


Lions in their Hearts

by AniPendragon (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canon-Typical Violence, Coming of Age, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Drama, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Friendship, Humour, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, M/M, Mild Angst, Origin Story, Panic Attacks, Recovery, Rivals to Lovers, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Trans Female Character, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-08-17 02:44:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8127328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/AniPendragon
Summary: Six people, one destiny. After a freak accident at the Future of Science Museum, six unlikely individuals end up with powers beyond their wild imaginations. These powers are not without struggles, and as the six do battle with themselves, and with each other, sinister forces make themselves known. Barely controlled and barely a team, they are forced to turn their attention outward as a group known only as the Galra use their abilities for evil. As Team Voltron gears up for battle, one question remains on their lips: just how many people were affected that day, and why, of all people, were they the ones chosen? Every day, every hour, turn that pain into power.





	1. Here's How it Starts...

**Author's Note:**

> So, here it is folks, after debating with myself for months, I'm finally throwing my hat into the Voltron fanfiction game. Voltron is a new fandom for me. I watched the show within a week of it coming out, but I didn't much participate in fandom. I've been around, reading bits of fic here and there, but this is my first contribution. 
> 
> So, what is this fic? This is a superhero origin story, in essence. It's a modern AU wherein the members of team Voltron don't all know each other right away. Some of them are friends, some of them are aware of each other, and others just plain don't know each other. There will be love, laughter, tears, friendship, romance, and developing relationships, plus a whole lot more. Pairings are marked, as are the major tags, and the rest you can ask about if you're not sure.
> 
> Keith/Lance and Shiro/Allura are the major couples, with Shay/Hunk coming in later and Coran/Alfor being more of a background thing. For those curious, this fic will be focusing on friendship as much as romantic entanglements, so don't think Pidge and Hunk are going to be left behind in this one! I don't plan on letting them be.
> 
> If you're curious, the title and the tagline both come from "Superheroes" by The Script. The song served as a good inspiration to the story as a whole.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six strangers walk into a museum.
> 
> It doesn't end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go.
> 
> For those curious, there is actually a reason why Pidge still goes by "Katie" at this point, but she will be going by Pidge later on. I hope y'all enjoy it!

The new exhibit at the Future of Science Museum had opened three hours ago and, if Allura were being honest, she had to say it was a rounding success. Her entire year had been spent working with her father to open the new space exhibit under his name. To have her name there as well, a brilliant beacon next to her father’s, was more than she had ever wanted. _Exhibit created by Alfor and Allura Altea_ , it read. And Allura had read it a thousand times.

After one last glance at the sign, she looked around again, going up on her toes to try and spot who she was waiting for. Of course, with her height, she didn’t need to extend herself much above the crowd, especially not in the cute new pumps she’d bought just for the occasion, but it helped regardless.

“Where is she?” murmured Allura to herself. She scanned the crowds again, blowing a strand of white-blonde hair from her face. Really, she should have worn it up today, it would have been less trouble. But, with this being the opening, Allura knew all eyes would be on her when the media made its grand entrance later on today. She had to look the part of the picture-perfect daughter. Long, elegant hair, well cut dress, and cute shoes.

That wasn’t to say she didn’t like the outfit, nor the appearance. Allura was more than capable of looking the part of the elegant daughter, just as she was capable of throwing on old jeans, a worn top, and digging into the mechanics of the exhibit. It was simply frustrating that only _one_ of those things was socially acceptable for a woman such as herself.

While Allura was grumbling inwardly, she spotted her friend in the crowd, clinging to her laptop bag and looking more than a little out of place.

“Katie!” called Allura, waving her over. Katie looked up, eyes going wide and shoulders dropping in relief as she spotted Allura. Allura stepped through the crowd, easily parting the people around. Katie waited, bouncing on her heels and rocking back and forth. Her long hair was pulled back into a high ponytail today, and Allura thought she spotted a tiny bit of liner around her eyes. It was rare to see Katie dress up and Allura took a moment to smile at the adorable green and yellow sundress she wore.

“You look lovely today, Katie,” said Allura. She took Katie’s hands in her own for a moment, smiling brightly. “How are you?”

Katie sighed and tugged at her ponytail, looking around at the people. “I’m okay. Little scared of the dress, but,” she shrugged, flashing Allura a tight smile, “you know, I’ll make it work.”

“You’re fine,” said Allura. She rested a hand on Katie’s shoulder and gestured toward the exhibit, which she’d been waiting in front of. “Shall we?”

Katie adjusted the strap on her laptop bag and nodded, following Allura into the exhibit room. It was a massive hall, divided into several rooms for the various displays. Allura had had no small part in creating the exhibits, not to mention helping her father’s engineers in creating them to begin with. She’d worked hard to ensure that everything was in its place, and that the entire exhibit centred on their pride and joy – the electric reactor.

“I still can’t believe that thing is made of _space metal_ ,” murmured Katie, staring up at it. Her eyes were wide and bright as she looked over the giant machine. Then, her gaze swung up toward Allura, and Allura smiled down at her. “Were you serious when you said it’s powering the entire exhibit?”

“The entire museum, actually,” said Allura. She gestured to the lights around them and winked at Katie. “And that’s only a fraction of what it can power. If we can get the grant to go through from this exhibit, we can go straight to NASA and back to the asteroid, where we’ll be extracting the rest of the metal to reverse engineer its chemical structure.”

Katie nodded, adjusting the strap again. “Fascinating,” she murmured. Her gaze got that faraway look it did sometimes when she was thinking. Allura waited, watching as Katie stepped up to the edge of the reactor’s exhibit and the low wall that separated it from the patrons, staring up at the great, pulsing energy within its central ring. “It’s such a weird shade of purple.”

“It is,” said Allura. She stepped up next to Katie and frowned thoughtfully at the reactor. The shade of purple had puzzled both herself and her father ever since they’d first seen it. The pseudo-metal, which they’d dubbed asterium, had a strange magnetic signature, causing it to disrupt most conventional power methods. However, the power it generated when turned into a reactor core was unprecedented, and, with it not being radioactive, it stood to be a good solution to the current power situation.

If they could replicate asterium, they had a chance at creating a new age of safe, clean pseudo-nuclear power with little to no downsides.

“You ever wonder why?” asked Katie.

“All the time,” murmured Allura. She sighed and rested her hand on Katie’s shoulder. “How about I show you the _rest_ of the exhibit?”

Katie grinned at her, something cheeky behind the excitement, and Allura narrowed her eyes. She was planning something, though Allura had no idea what. Frankly, she was a little worried as to what it might be. Katie was mischievous at the best of times, and giving her access to some of the most advanced technology in the world probably wasn’t the best idea.

“Actually, I had something I wanted to show you,” said Katie. She turned her bag toward Allura and Allura raised her eyebrows.

“All right,” said Allura, slowly. Katie nodded to an alcove in the exhibit and Allura followed her to it, brow still furrowed. What on Earth had Katie come up with this time? Last time she’d wanted to show Allura something, it had been a complicated little device to make toast that had promptly exploded and destroyed part of Allura’s kitchen.

Her father, thankfully, had found the entire ordeal absolutely hilarious.

Katie set down her bag and opened it up. “Okay, Rover, come on out,” she whispered. Allura’s eyebrows shot up. Rover? Oh no. This could only be one thing.

From the bag, a tiny nose appeared, then a head, then the rest of a little puppy. Allura stared as the puppy, she’d put money that it was a beagle – clambered out of the bag and tripped, flopping chin first onto the floor.

Katie smiled and scooped him up. “Hey, little guy,” she whispered, cradling him close. Her gaze went back to Allura. “Allura, this is Rover. He’s my new best friend.”

“Oh my gosh,” whispered Allura. She leaned forward, bending over so she could look closely at the puppy. “He’s _adorable_ , Katie.” Her gaze flicked up to Katie, though the two were almost at eye-level at the moment. “When did you get him?”

Katie shifted her hands as the puppy whimpered. “Last night,” she said. “Matt got him for me. He said I needed a reason to go outside and he always loved dogs.” She shrugged. “I guess this was his idea of ‘initiative’.”

“And your parents, they’re all right with this?” asked Allura.

Katie gave a quick nod. “Yeah, yeah. They’re all for it.” She wrinkled her nose. “I mean, they don’t mind that I like computers so much, but they think I need to go outside too.” She rolled her eyes and tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. “I know what I’m about.”

Allura’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “I’m sure,” she said, drily. She straightened up and looked around, biting her lower lip. She may have been one of the primary creators of this exhibit, but that didn’t mean she could break the rules left and right. “Put him away, Katie,” whispered Allura. “We don’t want to be told to leave.”

“Definitely not,” said Katie. She picked up her bag and set Rover back into it, folding it over without zipping the bag closed. “Stay quiet, Rover, okay?” She looked up at Allura, still smiling. “So, what next?”

“The exhibit,” said Allura. She gestured toward the rest of the giant hall, one hand on Katie’s shoulder. “Shall we?”

Katie nodded and double-checked her bag before following Allura into the exhibit. “I can’t believe the Garrison gets to come here for free,” muttered Katie. She folded her arms and scowled. “It’s not fair.”

Allura gave Katie a flat look. “And you get in free of charge because _I_ helped build the exhibit, Katie. Does that seem unfair to you as well?”

“No?” guessed Katie. She shrugged, turning her hands toward the ceiling. “Look, it’s not like I don’t like the Garrison. I guess. I just don’t think this place should have admission at all. Science should be free to everyone.”

Allura nodded. “I agree.” She waited a moment, judging her next words with care. “Speaking of the Garrison…”

Katie went rigid at her side. “Don’t.” Her words were harsh and bitten off, a sharp contrast from the soft, excited tones, and the dry, sarcastic tones that Allura typically heard from her friend. “Just… don’t.”

“I thought you were excited to join the Garrison next year?” asked Allura. She was sure of it, in fact. Katie had spoken of the Garrison, as well as her intention to join it, for almost the entire time they’d known one another. Her study program with the Altean Corporation, the very thing that had brought them together, was often used as a way to take advanced placement exams for the Garrison free of charge.

Beyond that, Katie’s older brother, Matt, had graduated in the same year as Allura. Surely, with her love of her brother, and her love of science, Katie wanted to join.

So, what had changed?

“I did,” said Katie, tightly. Her right hand gripped the strap of her laptop bag so tightly that Allura worried it might break. “Until I found out they require a physical.”

It was as if the curtains had been drawn back from a window. Katie’s hesitation, her lack of conversation about the Garrison as of late, and her tension, now all made complete sense.

“Are you sure you cannot explain your situation to them?” asked Allura.

Katie shook her head. The motion was sharp and ragged, temporarily masking the trembling in Katie’s lower lip and the fear in her eyes. “I don’t _want_ to.” Her voice cracked, albeit only slightly, on the words. “I just want to be _normal_ , Allura.”

Allura paused in the hall and rested her hands on Katie’s shoulders. She smiled down at her friend, hoping that her concern was visible. “Katie, you _are_ normal. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You are a wonderful young woman, and I know that you can do anything you want to.”

Katie stared down and off to the side, lips pressed tightly together. “And if I’d rather do independent study instead of going to the Garrison?” she asked. Her voice was rather small in the large hall, only barely audible despite their proximity.

Taking Katie’s chin in one hand, Allura turned their gazes to one another. “Then that’s what you want to do,” she said, “and I’d be happy to assist you.”

Katie took a step forward and wrapped her arms around Allura’s middle, pressing her face into the front of Allura’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered.

With a little smile, Allura rested one hand atop Katie’s head. “You are quite welcome. Now, how about that exhibit?”

“Sounds good,” said Katie. She wiped her eyes as the two stepped back from one another. Allura took her hand and led her through the exhibit, even as her mind wondered if there was a way to allow Katie into the Garrison without complication or intrusive questioning.

* * *

 

“Hunk!” Lance’s voice was a hissed shout, louder than a whisper but not by much. “Hunk!” He darted around people in the crowd. “Sorry, excuse me.” His gaze went back to his friend, who was heading through the doors of the museum. Lance broke free of the crowd and sprinted up the stairs. “Hey, wait up!”

As he came through the doors, Lance couldn’t help but gasp quietly. The front entrance to the museum was absolutely massive. It was done up with white and purple decals, marking the various paths to the brand new energy exhibit done by the Altean Corporation. Lance had heard through the grapevine that the daughter of the CEO, a woman who’d gone to the Garrison too, had designed half of the whole thing. He kind of hoped he’d get to meet her.

He knew Hunk wanted to meet her. It was part of why they were here.

“Hunk!” Lance went up on his toes and frowned at the crowd. He could see a flash of white hair in the distance, but that wasn’t Hunk. Hunk was wearing an orange headband and an orange shirt today, which made him stand out.

If Lance could _spot_ him, that was.

It was bad enough the two of them were already on probation – because of Lance – but then Hunk had to drag them off campus, on a _campus only day_ , to visit some super popular exhibit while wearing day-glow orange.

Mistakes had been made. Mostly by Lance, but at least twenty percent of the mistakes were Hunk’s. _Maybe_ twenty-five percent.

The point, Lance thought, as he pushed his way through the crowd, was that this wasn’t totally his fault. It was a fifth, or a quarter, depending, Hunk’s fault. And that meant that if this all went upside-down and he got into trouble, he could also blame Hunk.

“Hunk!” Lance called again. Someone in the crowd shot him a dirty look and Lance wriggled his way out of the admission area, stumbling as he came free of the crowd.

There, he spotted Hunk, staring up at this giant machine with a purple glow around the centre ring. Lance frowned at it. What was this thing?

“Hunk?” asked Lance, stepping up next to him. “What is this thing?”

“The electric reactor,” breathed Hunk. Lance squinted at it. How the heck did that work? Didn’t reactors work based on nuclear power? Wait.

This was the thing Hunk had wanted to see for _months._ Ever since the first announcement had gone up at the Garrison, Hunk had wanted to come see this thing. He had rambled about it for days on end until Lance finally relented and agreed to visit the exhibit when it opened, even if he didn’t get everything about it.

That, of course, had been before the two of them ended up on probation during an on-campus only day. It had also been before Lance had been warned that if he got caught breaking probation _one more time_ , then Iverson was going to call his parents.

Lance shuddered at the thought. God, his parents would be worse than anything Iverson could ever throw at him.

“Okay, so, you saw it, great, maybe we should…” Lance trailed off, his gaze going to the ship on its stage off to one side of the exhibit. He blinked a few times, eyes sliding over the sleek design. The fins, the exhaust, the cockpit – it was all perfect. He’d never seen a space plane this advanced in his life. The belly of the ship was almost entirely solar panels, allowing for rolls in space to recharge for extra power.

He ducked into the area and stepped under the stage, staring up at the ship. Others were around, taking pictures and studying things, but no one was gaping like he was.

“This is what they used to get to the asteroid,” whispered Lance to himself. He reached out toward one of the wheels on the landing gear, but he pulled up short. Should he really touch it?

There were no signs around that said he couldn’t. With trembling fingers, Lance rested his hands on the wheels. They were rough, the treads almost completely untouched from flying so long without friction.

Lance grinned to himself. This was it. This was what he wanted to do with his life. This was the entire reason he’d joined the Garrison, even if it _was_ a stuffy STEM based private school full of bigots and assholes.

“There you are,” said Hunk, coming up to him. “See you found the space plane.”

“This is _so cool_ ,” whispered Lance. He took his hand from the wheel and stared at it, his fingers still tingling from the sensation. “What do you think it’s like, up there?”

Hunk placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned at him. “I have no idea. But we’re going to find out. I’ll be down here, running mission control, while you’re up in space, having the time of your life.” He looked at Lance and Lance smiled back at him. “We’re partners, man. In it to the end.”

“Yeah we are,” said Lance. He slung an arm around Hunk’s shoulders. “Plus, it means I’ll have the world’s coolest space engineer building me ships to fly all over the solar system.” He pumped a fist into the air. “Once I’ve got something built by, you, no one will be able to stop me.”

Hunk laughed. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Don’t get too confident, I still have to specialize and go through college.”

“Pfft, you’ll do just fine,” said Lance. He nudged Hunk and they started toward the food kiosks. “You’re like, the smartest person I know Hunk. There’s nothing you can’t do.” He patted his back pockets. “Including… not forgetting your wallet?” Lance flashed him a sheepish smile.

Hunk sighed and dug his out. “Just this once,” he said.

“Woo! Food time!” said Lance, laughing. Hunk shook his head, which Lance only barely just saw, and followed after him toward the kiosks.

As Lance walked, a shudder went up his spine, and he froze in place, entire world vanishing for a split second. Hunk bumped into him and Lance wobbled forward, stopped from falling as Hunk grabbed him by the back of his jacket.

“Lance? You okay?” Hunk’s voice sounded far away. The whole world sounded far away. All Lance could focus on, for a few seconds, was the own steady booming of his heart in his head.

“Lance?” Hunk’s voice solidified again and Lance turned to look at him. Then he looked passed Hunk, to the glowing purple reactor. Another involuntary shudder went up his spine.

Hunk’s hand brushed his shoulder. Lance blinked.

“Hey, are you okay?” asked Hunk. Lance looked from Hunk, to the reactor, and back again.

“Yeah,” he said, after a long minute. “I’m good. Just…” He shook his head and shivered, rubbing his arms. “Just hungry, is all. Let’s go.”

Hunk frowned. “If you say so,” he said, but he didn’t push the issue. As the two headed toward the kiosks, Lance couldn’t help but look over his shoulder one last time at the reactor. It lumbered there, a rumbling giant that had him on edge, but he had no idea why.

Weird. He shook it off and followed after Hunk.

He was probably just hungry, that was all.

* * *

 

It was a hot day in late spring, still early enough that the full effects of the sun hadn’t hit Shiro yet, but he remained beneath a shadowy tree regardless. Here, tucked away from the crowds of people streaming into the museum, he could be undisturbed and watch the people around him.

Keith had gone in a few minutes ago to get tickets for them. Shiro waited for him to return, his gaze sweeping from the front doors of the museum to the people streaming into it. He swallowed, trying not to think about the press of the crowds.

Some of the people looked his way as they passed by. Most of them gave him a second look after a second, eyes widening or mouths dropping open. Some of the subtler ones simply furrowed their brows or looked over their shoulders, lips pursed.

Shiro tugged, not quite absently, at the right sleeve of his button up shirt, which had been knotted just below his stump. He told himself he was checking the knot, seeing as it was so high up he couldn’t get a proper angle on it. In truth, he knew why his focus was on the half of his upper arm that remained.

It was a losing battle, trying not to think about it. Instead, Shiro kept his focus on the front doors of the museum and on waiting for his younger brother.

After a few minutes, Keith appeared in his red cut off jacket, ducking under a few raised arms as he jogged over to Shiro. He held up the tickets.

“Got ‘em,” he said, before casting a look over his shoulder. “Can you believe they’re letting the Garrison in for free. It’s ridiculous.”

Shiro opened his mouth to point out that Keith had been Garrison, once. But he realized it probably wasn’t a good idea. Especially not with _why_ Keith wasn’t Garrison anymore.

“Ready to head in?” asked Keith. He shoved one hand in his pocket and held out the tickets with the other. “Unless…,” his gaze swept across Shiro and he frowned, “are you okay?”

Shiro pushed off the tree and took his ticket, ignoring how awkward it still was to grab things with his left hand. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Not great, not even _good_ , after all those looks, but fine was honest enough. He didn’t need to worry Keith. Keith worried enough about him as it was.

Together, the two bypassed the crowds, handed over their tickets, and slipped into the brand new exhibit.

Shiro had been looking forward to this ever since he’d heard of the ship coming back with a new element from space. Asterium, they were calling it, based on the asteroid that was making a circuit through the solar system. From what he’d gathered, it would stay in Earth’s orbit for another three days, then it would be gone for eight months, before it returned for a week long pass through Earth’s orbit again. Then, it would be gone for twenty-five years. Shiro was hoping to get some good pictures of it up at the observatory before it was gone in three days, and Keith had even offered to drive him there.

Until then, however, he wanted to look at what they’d built out of the asterium they’d found on the asteroid. Apparently, it was a reactor. One that, he noticed, had been built almost entirely by an old classmate of his.

The thought made his chest hurt. He and Allura had never known each other – he’d been going into the air force; she’d been a mechanic – but he’d known of her. To know that she was off in the world, creating new, clean technology, while he wasted away at home trying to figure out how to do things one-handed while fighting off nightmares and panic attacks… well, it was a little disheartening, to say the least.

Keith waved a pamphlet in front of Shiro’s face as the two walked through the exhibit. He bit his thumb nail as he read the words, brow furrowed and lips slightly pursed around his thumb.

“What do you wanna check out first?” asked Keith. His eyes scanned the pamphlet and he dropped his thumb, looking up at Shiro. “Looks like there’s a lot here.”

Shiro’s looked over the exhibit, his gaze finding a pair of guys standing beneath the space plane, people gathered around the various screens to watch how the asteroid and asterium had been discovered and mined, and then, in the centre of it all, he saw what he was searching for – the lumbering beast of the reactor and its glowing, purple, centre ring. The ring wrapped horizontally around the reactor, which itself looked like a lopsided sphere, and Shiro took a step toward it before he could stop himself.

There were people all around it, milling about and chatting, and his left hand clenched into a fist at his side.

“We can come back,” said Keith, behind him. “It’s not a big deal.”

Admission was thirty dollars a person. The exhibit was going to be packed for weeks, if not the full time it was in the museum. If he left now, Shiro didn’t know if he’d ever convince himself to come back. The stares, the noise, the crowds – it all pressed close to him, making his heart beat hard in his chest and leaving him struggling to control his breathing.

But he wanted to see. He couldn’t let the past, this trauma, control him forever.

“The reactor,” said Shiro. He swallowed. “Let’s go look at it.”

Keith nodded. There was concern in his eyes, but Shiro ignored it and started toward the reactor. He also ignored the slight unevenness to his steps and the way his heart beat hard enough to pound at his ears and making his head ache in time with its beats.

Keith followed after him, frowning slightly.

The reactor was more than Shiro had expected. The purple energy that glowed around it reflected across the hall, giving the white and purple decals a sort of eerie light that only intensified the strangeness, the _newness_ of the whole thing.

Part of him, the part that liked answers, wanted to crack it open and root around its insides until he understood what it was. He was no engineer, but he and Keith were mechanics to some extent – or at least, he had been, once, and Keith still was – and the idea of finding out what made this thing tick was incredibly appealing.

“What do you think?” asked Shiro, looking to Keith.

Keith faltered. He opened his mouth, closed it, frowned, squinted, then offered Shiro a sheepish smile. “It’s… purple?”

Shiro snorted. People turned and looked at him. He shrunk back down until they looked away. In a low voice, he said, “Yes. The Altean Corporation doesn’t know why it’s purple, but it is. I was more talking about the design. You always liked machines, didn’t you?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, but I’m more into cars and bikes not… this.” He gestured to the reactor before stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I mean, it’s cool, Shiro. I’m glad you like it.”

Quietly, Shiro said, “Me too.” He studied the reactor closely, stepping up until the low barrier wall stopped him. It was unbelievable, the idea that something so powerful could be so harmless. Traditional nuclear reactors had to be put behind feet upon feet of protective barriers, isolated and kept watch over. If something even went _slightly_ wrong, it was mass panic and protective measures.

Here, it was completely different. This reactor was harmless in its typical state and stable enough that security measures were minimal. Largely, it was simply keeping the reactor at a distance from everyone else. As long as no one touched it, nothing would happen.

Keith stepped up beside him, leaning against the barrier with his arms folded against it. “Pretty cool, actually,” said Keith.

“You? Admitting something is cool?” teased Shiro.

Keith bumped his left shoulder, shaking his head. He was smiling, however, so Shiro didn’t think he’d said anything wrong.

“Sometimes I can,” admitted Keith. He stared up at the reactor and, for just a moment, Shiro saw the purple reflected in Keith’s dark eyes. “Even if you are a kind of lame.”

“I’m _your_ brother,” said Shiro.

Keith shrugged. “Half-brother.” His words were soft.

“Keith.”

“I am,” said Keith. His gaze swung back toward Shiro, the purple of the reactor remaining for a moment. “You can’t even _deny_ that. We both know what I am. Just… leave it.”

Shiro frowned. It had been almost a year since Keith had last brought up that little detail. Since he’d snapped at Shiro’s father – not his, Keith had argued at the time – for treating him like some kind of plague on their mother’s side of the family.

It wasn’t that his dad disliked Keith – he loved Keith with all his heart – but Keith was the odd one out in the entire family, and that meant _looks_ at family things. Shiro didn’t blame him for snapping, even if he’d based his argument on a bad, out of context statement from his father.

“What brought this on?” asked Shiro, frowning. He reached up and rubbed the scar across his nose. It’d been bothering him for a while now, but he couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was unseasonal humidity. It was bugging his stump too. Both had been hurting almost nonstop since he’d woken up. He’d just taken an extra dose of pain meds before coming to the museum, but even that didn’t seem to be helping.

“Nothing,” said Keith. He stared at the reactor, his eyes soft. “Just been thinking.”

“Hey,” said Shiro. He reached out and rested his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “You know if you need me, I’m here, right?”

“Yeah,” said Keith. “Thanks.” He looked back to the reactor, squinting, then brought up his hand and rubbed his head, eyes closed. “Damn it.”

Shiro frowned. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Keith nodded, but his eyes were still squeezed shut. “Yeah, just a headache. A bad one.” He grimaced and stumbled back the reactor, letting out a low curse again. Shiro reached toward Keith, but a light caught his attention.

His gaze swung back to the reactor as the glowing purple ring started to pulse. Shiro stumbled back half a step and grabbed Keith’s jacket, yanking him back. The pulse brushed the edge of the barrier, sending lines of purple electricity dancing down the glass. It cracked, shattered, and fell to the floor in an explosion of noise and light.

“Oh my god,” breathed Shiro. The ring kept expanding as it pulsed and, a second later, the alarms started going off, their noise drowning out everything else in the museum.

* * *

 

Allura’s head swung toward the reactor the moment the alarms started. The barrier’s glass was shattered on the floor, purple electricity dancing across it. The ring itself pulsed beyond its containment ring, dancing toward the rest of the museum.

“Allura, what’s going on?” asked Katie, holding her bag close. Allura stepped in front of Katie, holding out an arm to keep her from trying to check it out.

 _“Please evacuate the museum immediately,_ ” said a voice over the intercoms. “ _Please remain calm and head for the nearest exit._ ” People went running for the doors, dropping things as they went and screaming all the way.

But Allura’s gaze was locked on the two boys standing in front of the reactor. The shorter one was gripping his head while the other was trying to get his attention. With every passing second, the purple energy ring drew closer and closer to them.

“Katie, get outside. Now.” Allura’s voice was hard, commanding. She started toward the boys, jogging as best she could in her heels.

“Allura, wait!” called Katie. Allura kept moving. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two guys running from the space plane toward the other two guys.

“Hey, watch out!” called the lankier of the two. Allura darted sideways around some of the broken glass that had expanded far passed the barrier.

The purple ring shrunk back for a moment before pushing forward faster. Allura did some quick math. They had roughly thirty seconds before the reactor fully overloaded. They needed to get out.

“Keith?” asked the man with one arm. “Keith, talk to me. What’s going on? We have to go!” The panic in his voice sent Allura’s mind into overload.

They needed to get out.

Keith groaned and dropped to one knee. Allura kept running.

“Get out! I have them!” she shouted to the two guys running toward them. They didn’t listen. They hit the other two just as she did. The two grabbed the one named Keith and pulled him toward the door. Allura caught the other one’s shoulder and pulled him toward the door.

“We have to go.” They had less than ten seconds. They weren’t going to make it. The thought struck her like a punch to the stomach.

_They weren’t going to make it._

“Allura!” Katie’s voice. Allura’s head snapped up and she saw Katie running toward her. The museum was almost completely empty now. Just the six of them.

The reactor gave a great hiss behind them. Allura abandoned the man and leaped for Katie.

“Get down!” she shouted. She hit Katie and tackled her to the ground, throwing her arms around her just as the reactor screamed.

Purple exploded across her senses, drowning out almost everything else. Vaguely, she could hear screaming, but whether it was hers or someone else’s she didn’t know.

Electricity ripped through her veins, pain following after. So intense, so hot, that Allura thought her very blood had been boiled from her veins.

Screaming, hissing, electricity in her veins. And pain. So much pain that Allura didn’t know where she ended and it began. And then, nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love! Let me know what you think of the story and whether or not my characterization is doing well. I hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter and I'll see you soon with the next one.


	2. In the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four awake, two asleep. The aftermath of the explosion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's a lot of emphasis on Pidge this chapter, but there are still three different POVs, don't worry. Pidge is one of my favourite characters and as much as this story is an origin story of superpowers, it's also one of people. Everyone has a character arc and the beginning of Pidge's does focus on her perceptions of her gender and how other people perceive her gender. This won't be the focus of her arc for long - there's so much more to her - but I didn't want to shove under the rug some of the things she's going through. And, as someone outside the binary, it was important to me to acknowledge that Pidge's gender is part of who she is, but not nearly _all_ of who she is. You feel me?
> 
> As we go through the story, I'll probably pop in on some author's notes to talk about decisions like the ones I made in this chapter, so look out for those. There's one about Shiro coming up pretty soon, I think... Depends on a few factors.
> 
> Anyway, I am super grateful for all the feedback last chapter! I didn't expect to get such a warm reception to the fandom, but I'm glad I did. Hopefully y'all continue to enjoy the story.

Awareness returned in bits and pieces. The steady beeps of a machine. The flicker of a light, overhead. A gentle brush. A murmur. A whisper. A scent. All indecipherable, but there, just beyond the surface. But still, she floated, drifting in and out for so long she wondered if this was all a dream. If maybe the world would never return.

Brushes against her skin drew her from the floating. They grounded her against soft and scratch and firm all at once. Her head was light. Lighter than it should have been. Maybe it was full of helium. Maybe she would float away forever with her head full of helium.

Voices. Murmurs, really. Nothing more. They spoke things that she couldn’t understand, drifting passed her ears like so many things often did. Maybe they were speaking to her. Maybe they weren’t. She didn’t know.

The world seemed so peaceful, down in the darkness, with only the wind to keep her company. Its words were stronger, whispers of the past and future all wrapped up into a single song that she couldn’t quite understand. They asked her if she wanted to fly. She said, _yes._

But even that slipped away from her, after a time, and once more she drifted under the surface, waiting for something, anything, to enter her awareness.

“Katie.”

It started as a whisper, broken and gargled as it was. But still, she heard it.

“Katie.”

The words solidified, drawing her closer and closer to the ground. She didn’t fall, she floated. Drifted, really. Until she touched down on solid ground.

“Katie.”

She opened her eyes.

The world refused to focus. She blinked. Once, twice, three times. The beeping of the machines around her continued. Everything was white and far, far too bright. She stared at the ceiling. At least, she thought it was a ceiling. She thought she was in a bed. It could have been anything, really. A cloud, a couch, the middle of a road. The world was still so far away that nothing wanted to focus. And, in that haze, Katie could have been anywhere in the galaxy and not known.

White. Bright. Scratchy. There, that was new. Whatever was under her was scratchy. Sort of like… a blanket, almost. Yes, that sounded right. A blanket. So, she was on a bed then. Katie took a deep breath and let out a soft groan at the pain the sensation burst through her. The sound was hoarse and awful, tearing at her throat until she coughed.

“Is she awake?”

“Easy, Matt, give her some room.”

Two voices. She recognized them both, but only just. What had happened? Where was she? Why wouldn’t anything focus? Why was she in a bed? She may have been in a hospital, possibly. Maybe. She didn’t know. But the bed, the white, the lights, it all added up to a hospital. Katie couldn’t think of why she’d be in a hospital, however. It’d been a while since she was in one for anything more than a check-up.

Something had happened. She didn’t remember what. God, she wished she could remember what. If only she could focus.

“Katie, can you hear me?” A voice, just off to the side. She squinted at the ceiling, at the whiteness of it. She gave a slow, clumsy blink. The ceiling didn’t focus. Nothing focused. Why wouldn’t anything focus?

“Can you hear me?” came the voice again. She could, but she didn’t know what the voice wanted her to do. She couldn’t talk. Her throat was too dry. The words wouldn’t come. The words were trapped in her mind, unconnected and jagged against the base of her skull. God, why was her head so scattered? Why couldn’t she think?

What the heck had happened?

“Katie, look at me.” The voice was to her right. Slowly, painfully, Katie turned her head toward it. The pillow – yes, that was what it was – rasped under her cheek. Her head felt lighter than it should have. She didn’t understand why. And why couldn’t she feel her hair on her shoulders? Why wasn’t she spitting it out of her mouth?

It didn’t make sense.

The world, blurry as it was, had enough focus for Katie to see what she was looking at. Matt sat next to her bed. His hands were clasped between his legs and he was hunched over, his shoulders slumped. Katie couldn’t make out his facial expression. Everything was too blurry. Nothing – not his face, not the room, not the ceiling – wanted to focus.

“Can you hear me?” asked Matt. Katie blinked, slow and heavy. Her eyes were painfully heavy. She couldn’t blink any faster than that. With painful, horrible stiffness, she managed a singular, stilted nod.

Relief flooded Matt’s voice as he said, “Oh, thank god.” She thought his face probably mirrored his relief, but she couldn’t tell because she couldn’t make out his face. Just the edges of his glasses and the clumsy mop of his hair. Before Katie could think anything else, Matt got to his feet and circled the bed. He disappeared from Katie’s vision, but she didn’t turn her head. “Dad!” he called, presumably out the door based on the echo of his voice. “She’s awake!”

Katie turned her head to the left, ignoring the way it sent a stab of pain through her skull and left her wincing at the force of it. She squinted at Matt and the door, trying, in vain, to make it focus. A moment later, a second figure stepped through the door. Distantly, Katie realized it was her father. She couldn’t make out his face either.

“Katie, it’s good to see you awake,” he said. The relief was in his voice too. Katie wondered what had happened, but when she tried to focus, all she could hear was the wind inside her brain. It picked up, sending shrill echoes through her mind. She groaned again, hands twitching toward her head. “Katie?” Katie latched onto her father’s voice and dragged herself toward it, latching on until she was at the surface again, looking at her brother and her father in the hospital room.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

Katie blinked. She didn’t know. Everything hurt, but she didn’t seem to have any casts, nor did she know what had happened.

The ever burning question.

“Do you want to sit up?” asked her father. Katie managed a nod, ignoring the way it made her vision spot for a few seconds. It was already unfocused; spots weren’t much worse.

Her father leaned over the bed and pushed a button. Katie sucked in a breath as the bed raised, bringing her into a sitting position, slightly reclined. Her father reached behind her and adjusted her pillows, sliding them down near her lower back instead of up near her head. She leaned back against them and squinted at the hospital room. The world still refused to focus.

What was going on with her eyes?

“How do you feel?” asked her father. Distantly, she thought he’d probably already said that, but she didn’t know. Everything seemed to be blurring together, not quite focusing before it disappeared into the depths of her mind. Maybe she’d get it back, eventually. Maybe.

Her father rubbed one of her legs through her blanket as he sat down on the edge of the bed. Katie focused on the feeling of it, on the soothing circles he rubbed. It grounded her, kept her from floating away.

“Fine,” rasped Katie. She winced at how sore her throat was. She probably shouldn’t have tried speaking. It hurt too much.

Matt, blurry as he was, disappeared into the small bathroom that seemed to be attached to her room. Or maybe it was a closet, or a pocket dimension. With her current vision, Katie probably wouldn’t be able to tell any of them apart.

When Matt returned, he seemed to be holding a small paper cup, which he held out to Katie. She took it, feeling the coolness of the water spreading through the paper and into her hands. She drank deeply from the cup, draining the entire thing. Water dribbled down her chin and spilled onto her blanket in fat droplets, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She needed the drink.

“What happened?” asked Katie. Her voice was still raspy, and lower than she typically liked it to be. But she couldn’t help it, her throat hurt too badly to try anything else with her voice.

Katie handed the cup back to Matt and looked between the two, her brow furrowed.

The two looked to one another, the worry barely visible in Katie’s blurred vision. She didn’t have to see their faces to know what they were thinking, however. That was easy enough: what did she mean she didn’t remember?

Katie hated not knowing. She was a scientist. Scientists knew things. Not knowing things left her ignorant and helpless, a victim to whatever people decided to tell her.

“Do you… not remember?” said her father. Katie bit the inside of her cheek. Upset as she was, she didn’t need to snap at her father. Even if she wanted to say ‘no, why would I be asking otherwise?’ to him.

Instead, she frowned, letting her second response form on her tongue. “Remember what?” she asked.

Matt sat down on the bed as well, making it dip on Katie’s right side. His hand was warm, not on her leg, but near enough that she could feel it through the blanket.

“What’s the last thing you _do_ remember?” asked Matt. He rocked slightly on the bed, giving Katie something else to ground herself with. The breeze of the hospital room tickled across her shoulders. Why was the hospital breezy? It didn’t seem proper. She should complain.

“I remember…” Katie put a hand to the side of her head, frowning. She blinked a few times, dredging up what she could. “Allura and I, we were at the museum.” She looked up at her dad and brother, who she figured were probably studying her petty closely. “There was… something with the reactor. It was purple. It…” It struck her like lightning. “Rover!” She jerked forward, reaching to throw back the blankets.

“Katie!” Her father grabbed her shoulders, forcing her back toward the bed. Her vision spotted and swam, what was left of the focus fading fast. She groaned and closed her eyes. “Rover is fine. He got out of the museum. You and your friend…” He trailed off. Katie didn’t need to be able to see him to know he was staring at her with his patented Worried Look.

Katie looked up. Her vision solidified just enough for her to see the worry on her father’s face. “Where’s Allura?” she asked.

They didn’t say anything.

Katie swallowed hard. Her heart pounded against her ribcage and tears prickled her eyes. She forced herself to take a breath. “Dad,” she said again, “where’s Allura?”

“In the ICU,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “The brunt of the explosion was centred on Allura and another young man named Shiro. They’re both in critical care at the moment. Allura…” He turned his head away from her, his gaze going down to the floor. Nothing outside of his face would focus. “She’s stable, but she hasn’t woken up. The burns on her back were extensive.”

“Burns?” echoed Katie, voice cracking.

Matt sighed. “Effectively?” He drew one leg up onto the bed and hugged it. “She got struck by lightning. Entry point was her back, exit point was her left foot. She has burns, ranging from mild first to moderate second, running across that entire area. She’ll heal fine, but she’s gonna scar pretty badly.”

Katie nodded, licking her lips. They were far too dry, even with the water she’d be given only minutes ago. “Okay, okay,” she said. She tried to take a deep breath, but it hurt her chest. Her head kept pounding, now beating with the rhythms of her heart. Katie groaned and put her hands on her face, closing her eyes and sucking in a sharp breath through her nose.

God, why did her head hurt so badly? She hadn’t hit it, had she? And why couldn’t she _see_?

“Katie, hey, talk to us,” said her father. He put a hand on her shoulder and Katie looked up to them, squinting.

“I can’t see straight,” said Katie, closing one eye against the pain. “Everything’s blurry.”

Her father sighed, soft but there all the same. “The doctors warned us that there could be minor damage. We were worried you might have lost your memory, or else something worse. Glasses, we can handle. Your brother has them.”

“Hey!” said Matt. He shrugged, the motion rolling through the bed. “We’ll get some cool frames for you, sis.”

Katie nodded. She rested her hands on the blanket, fisting the portion in her lap. Her vision kept going in and out of focus, desperately trying to cling to something. It felt a lot like her, actually. Clinging to the voices and figures of her father and brother, even if she couldn’t see them properly.

“Do you want us to get a doctor?” asked Matt.

Her father nudged her shoulder, the gesture tiny but grounding all the same. “Do you need anything?” he asked.

Katie swallowed her fears and her pride. “I have to pee,” she said, quietly.

“Oh,” said her father. She didn’t look up. She could practically see them exchanging a glance. If her mother wasn’t in here, then she wasn’t here at all, and she was the only one Katie would let near her. “Do you… want help?”

Katie grimaced. “Just get me to the bathroom and shut the door, I’ll handle the rest,” she mumbled.

Together, the two helped her up, and even as Katie’s body was focused on the forward motion, her mind remained in the past. Allura, the others that had been in the museum, and herself. Were they all injured? Did any of them remember what had happened? She just didn’t know.

And were they all as bad as Allura? Or as mild as her? There were too many questions.

Sometimes, she hated questions.

Katie caught her own reflection in the mirror as she walked into the bathroom. With a sharp gasp, she stumbled, grabbed the sink, and nearly fell over from shock.

Her _hair._ Her beautiful, long hair, that she’d spent the last _three years_ growing out to make herself look the way she wanted, was gone. It barely went passed her chin now, jagged and bushier than her brother’s.

God, she could have been a younger version of her brother. She looked just like him like this.

Tears welled up in Katie’s eyes. “No,” she whimpered. The tears spilled over and splashed on the porcelain sink. A choked sob slipped from her lips. “No.”

Faintly she heard her father telling Matt to call Mom. Faintly, she was aware of her father’s hands on her shoulders. The way he told her that she was so lucky. She’d only lost some of her hair. She wasn’t bald. She was still her.

But he didn’t get it. No one did.

And now, all her work to look the way she wanted, to look the way society wanted her to, was all for naught. No one would look at her the way she wanted anymore. They’d assume she was her brother.

It wasn’t fair. She’d spent _three years_ growing it out.

It just wasn’t fair.

With a choked sob, Katie buried her face in her father’s shirt and let herself cry. He stroked her hair – god, her _hair_ – and whispered comforting words into her ear.

But they meant nothing. Not after everything had happened. And they both knew that, in the end.

* * *

 

Keith was fairly certain that, as soon as the nurses found him, he’d be dragged back to his room for bedrest. As it stood, they hadn’t found him yet, and he was going to put it off as long as he could. He’d probably tell the nurses that he wasn’t going back. They’d have to call security to get him out.

He wasn’t leaving Shiro alone.

Keith’s gaze hadn’t faltered from Shiro since he’d crept into the room in the ICU almost two hours ago. His eyelids were heavy and grimy, begging him to close them and let him sleep. But he wouldn’t give in, not with Shiro here, in the ICU. They had him on a ventilator. They had him on IVs. Keith didn’t know what they were. He knew there’d been a blood transfusion. And his hair…

Keith’s gaze slid up to the shocking white patch at the front of Shiro’s hair. He didn’t know how the reactor had caused that, but it had, and now Shiro stood out even further from the crowd than he already had.

Taking a deep breath, Keith forced his gaze back to the rest of Shiro. To the mask on his face, to the bandages around his stump, to the bandages and gauze that marked other lacerations and burns the reactor had given him.

Keith was mostly unmarked, apart from losing some of his hair and getting a nasty recurring headache, but that was nothing new. He and the other two, Keith didn’t know their names, had been clear of the explosion. They’d just gotten the backdraft.

He shouldn’t have left Shiro behind. He should have been able to get a hold of his headache before it all went to shit. He should have been able to fight through the headache and keep Shiro safe.

He’d had the headaches his whole life. Why had it gotten bad enough to knock him down like that?

Something was wrong. But, before he solved it, he needed to ensure Shiro was safe. It was almost his job, these days. Ever since the car accident, a little over a year ago, he’d functionally become Shiro’s keeper. His protector. His guardian.

Their parents didn’t like it, Keith knew, especially not Shiro’s dad. But they worked full time, so it wasn’t like they could be there if Shiro needed them. Keith didn’t mind. He’d never liked school anyway. Shiro had been, horribly enough, a good excuse to get out of class for good.

If he could help his brother recover, then even better.

Keith sighed and watched Shiro.

God, what had happened back there?

He rubbed his head and took a deep breath. Pain pulsed intermittently behind his eyes, leaving his vision decorated with purple spots. He wanted to scream. Nothing he was doing was making any sort of difference, and even the painkillers that the doctors had given him hadn’t touched the headache. In fact, he thought one of them had probably made it worse. Fuck.

It’d never been this bad before. He didn’t know why they were attacking him with such vengeance now.

The door opened and a nurse stepped in. She gave Keith a flat look. Keith drew his slipper covered feet up onto the chair, holding his knees close to his chest before resting his chin on them.

“Son,” she said, softly.

“Not your son,” mumbled Keith. “And I’m not leaving.”

The nurse sighed. “You can’t stay here. It’s against policy.”

“I can try,” said Keith. He didn’t look at her. Instead, he kept his gaze firmly locked on Shiro and on the fog of condensation that formed on his ventilator mask with every exhale. It was a comfort, to know he was breathing, even if it was assisted.

Knowing he was alive at all, with minimal brain damage, if any, was a blessing and a miracle in and of itself. Keith didn’t know how they’d gotten so lucky twice. First the car accident, then this. Two accidents, two injuries, two hospital visits. And yet Shiro was still in one piece. Still alive. Not whole, not always in good health, but at least still here and able to recover at all.

“I will call security,” said nurse.

“You do that,” said Keith. “I’m staying here.” He still didn’t look at her. She could bring security, and they could drag him kicking and screaming from the room. He’d be back. They could place guards at the doors and he’d climb in a window, he’d pull an alarm. Shiro was his brother. Family didn’t abandon family.

The thought made Keith’s stomach clench.

Only one person in the world could ask – not tell, but ask – him to do something. That honour belonged to his mother. Keith could count the number of times he’d gone against her wishes in his entire life on one hand.

But she wasn’t here. Neither was Shiro’s father. The two of them had gone out of town for a family wedding and were rushing back. They would probably be here in a few hours. At which point, Keith would be forced to give up his chair so that both of them could sit down.

They weren’t getting him out of here until then. No matter how big or scary security might be. He wasn’t going anywhere until their parents got here.

The nurse sighed again, this time more defeated than exasperated. Keith was good at parsing sighs. It was largely how he and Shiro communicated, some days.

“All right, you know what? Fine,” said the nurse. Keith looked up at her, finally, furrowing his brow at her. Huh? “I can’t be the one to do this, kid. You’re obviously scared for your brother, so stay. Just don’t get too close. We’re keeping him clean.”

Keith nodded and swung his gaze back to Shiro. He wanted to protest being called ‘scared’, but he didn’t dare. Not only because it was true, but because he worried that, if he did, he’d be dragged out of the hospital room after all.

The nurse left and Keith was alone with Shiro and his thoughts again.

“You better be okay,” Keith mumbled into his knees. “You’ve worked too hard to go down like this.”

The words hung heavy in the air, tugging at Keith as surely as the exhaustion that clung to his bones. But he wouldn’t sleep. Not until their parents got here. Not until he knew whether or not Shiro was going to be fine.

Keith hugged his knees a little tighter. Despite the cool of the room, he was impossibly warm. Heat burned through his veins, igniting the fear that clung there. He swallowed hard, shifting in discomfort. He was already in a t-shirt. He shouldn’t have been this warm.

It had to be the panic. Shiro always said panic attacks screwed up his body temperature. That had to be what was going on.

“Please be okay,” whispered Keith. His voice was terribly vulnerable in the sterile room, echoing amidst the beeps and hums of the machines around Shiro. “Please, just be okay.”

* * *

 

Hospital rooms were _stupidly cold_ , thought Lance as he wrapped the blanket tighter around his shoulders and shuffled down the hallway. Somewhere, in all this, was Hunk. They’d been put in different rooms on the same floor, but Lance hadn’t had any luck in tracking him down since he’d woken up.

Thank god he didn’t have an IV. That would have made this so much worse. He couldn’t imagine trying to keep track of that and do this. Not with how cold it was.

“Hunk?” hissed Lance. God, why was it so _cold?_ Last time he’d been in the hospital, it hadn’t been nearly this cold. Why were they bringing down the temperatures now? It didn’t seem safe. He should complain to someone.

As soon as he found Hunk. Maybe.

“Hunk?” hissed Lance again, looking over his shoulder to see if he was being followed. He didn’t trust the nurses not to raise an alarm when they found out he was missing from his bed. True, he could have avoided that whole issue by, you know, staying in bed, but he didn’t want to.

He wanted to find Hunk. He wanted to make sure Hunk was okay. God, he had to be okay. He was Lance’s rock, Lance’s support. Lance’s best friend.

“Lance?” The words echoed in the hallway, music to Lance’s ears. He swivelled on the spot, zeroing in on the room where the sound had come from. Lance shuffled forward, hugging the blanket closer to himself. His slippers scratched on the floor, the soft shush-shush of their soles on the tiles echoing in the empty hallway.

Lance slipped in through the crack in the door and nearly fell over in relief. Sitting up, with his back to the wall, was Hunk.

“Hunk,” breathed Lance. He shuffled forward, smiling, and nearly tripped. The other bed, further from the door, was empty, and Lance shuffled over to it and climbed up onto it, hugging his knees so he could wrap his blanket around his whole self. “It’s good to see you, buddy. Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine. Tired,” said Hunk. He fiddled with his hands in his lap and frowned at Lance. “You look awful.”

“Thanks,” said Lance, drily. He sighed and snuggled closer under his blankets. “I’m just really cold. Did they turn off the heat?” He sniffled. “I’m so cold.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, it feels normal to me,” said Hunk. He squinted at Lance. “Are you sure you’re okay? Your lips are turning blue.” His frown deepened, concern painting his entire voice and face. “It’s kind of freaking me out.”

Lance looked over his shoulder, to the mirror that hung on the bathroom door, and frowned. Yeah, his lips _were_ turning blue. He couldn’t be that cold, could he? Damn, what was going _on_?

“Here,” said Hunk. He pulled the blanket out from beneath him and held it out to Lance. Lance wrapped it around himself and shivered. The warmth from Hunk helped, and some of the cold dragged itself from his bones, allowing him to relax, if only for a moment.

“So, they tell you anything?” asked Lance. He remembered the confusion, when he’d woken up. No one wanted to tell him what was going on. He remembered the museum, the explosion, how he and Hunk had pulled another guy out of the blast, but others had gotten caught in it. He didn’t have much wrong with him, just a weird temperature thing and periodic head pains. Neither one was _that_ bad, just inconvenient.

“Just that we’re lucky,” said Hunk. He crossed his legs on the bed and rested his hands on his ankles. He was frowning, his hair hanging in his face, and Lance watched him with a frown of his own. “Do you… do you think they told our parents?” Hunk’s voice was very small as he spoke.

“Yeah, totally,” said Lance. “There’s no way they couldn’t have, right? I mean, we got hurt, they had to call them.” Or at least, Lance hoped they did. “I’m sure they’re on their way, buddy.” He tugged the blankets tighter around him, grateful that the cold was ebbing away. “No worries.”

“Right,” said Hunk. He stared at the floor, his eyes haunted and his head bowed. “No worries.”

Lance let the extra blanket fall and climbed off the bed, clambering up next to Hunk instead. He tossed the blanket around both their shoulders and ducked under Hunk’s arm, looking up at him. It’d been a while since he’d done this – not since Hunk’s cat, Misty, had died during first semester. “Talk to me, what’s up?”

Hunk shook his head, but Lance could see the tears gathering there nonetheless.

“Hunk.” Lance kept his voice soft.

“This is all my fault,” whispered Hunk.

_Oh._

“What are you talking about?” asked Lance. He wrinkled his nose and nudged Hunk’s shoulder with his own. “You couldn’t control the reactor. If anything, you did good, man. We got that guy free, remember? What was his name, Keith?” He vaguely remembered the bigger guy, the one with one arm, calling him that. “We did good. _You_ did good.”

Hunk shook his head, his breathing stuttering. “B-but,” and there was the voice crack on the tears. Lance tucked himself closer, “but if we hadn’t _gone_ to the museum in the first place, none of this would have happened. We would have stayed home, and been safe, and now Iverson is going to find out we skipped, and now we’re in the hospital, and now you’re freezing, and we’re alone, and I don’t know what to _do_.” His words grew faster and faster as he spoke, until they stumbled on his trembling voice and tears started leaking down his face.

“Hey,” said Lance. He scooted around and nudged Hunk, turning him so that the blanket fell away from Hunk and the two faced each other, both cross-legged. Lance reached forward and thumbed away the tears on Hunk’s face with both hands. “Don’t talk like that, man. You didn’t know any of this was gonna happen. It was a freak accident. We’re fine, everything’s fine.” Hunk opened his mouth to protest and Lance put one finger over Hunk’s mouth. “And, what about that guy we saved? You think he would have gotten clear without us? If we weren’t there, he could have gotten seriously hurt.” Lance smiled at him and took his hand away. “If anything, big guy, it’s a _good_ thing we were there, you feel me?”

Hunk sighed, slumping like he didn’t quite believe Lance, but he nodded. “Yeah.” His voice still trembled as he spoke. “I feel you.” He looked up at Lance, eyes soft. “When do you think our parents will get here?”

“I dunno,” said Lance. He held out his blanket to Hunk and Hunk took it, tugging them back together. “But I’m not going anywhere. We’ve gotten through worse together, buddy. We’ll get through this.” Lance rested his head on Hunk’s shoulder. “We just gotta stick together.”

“Yeah,” whispered Hunk, resting his cheek on the top of Lance’s head. “Together.”

They stayed like that for a while. Neither speaking, neither breathing very hard. They’d survived Iverson together, thought Lance, they could survive this.

No big.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all feedback, comments, and constructive criticism are welcome. Feel free to leave a comment! Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	3. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of the museum victims meet. Allura awakens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again for another week! This week there's more focus on Shiro, Lance, and Allura - although not necessarily together - and more of what happened begins to come to light!
> 
> I want to thank everyone for leaving comments and kudos on the story, and for reading along. You guys are the ones who make it worth it!

Hospital food sucked, Lance decided on his third day of being stuck on the third floor of the hospital. The food in this hospital _especially_ sucked. Back home, they had an entire ethnic section in the hospital cafeteria that patients were allowed to eat from. Lance usually went Greek or Korean. Here, the patients weren’t even _allowed_ in the cafeteria. Or at least, that’s what the nurses had said. Lance hadn’t believed them. Obviously.

So, of course, the moment he and Hunk were well enough, they snuck out early in the morning to break that rule.

It’d been a while since they’d done this – broken rules to get food instead of sneaking off campus or doing something much more dangerous. A couple years in the Garrison had made them reckless, impulsive, and gung-ho for rule breaking more than anything else. Lance missed it sometimes, the smaller schemes, the way Hunk used to be a lot more reluctant to do this stuff.

He hadn’t had to talk Hunk into breaking out in almost six months. It was kind of weird.

“How do you know we’re going the right way?” asked Hunk, his voice low next to Lance’s ear.

Lance held up one hand and leaned against the wall, peering around the corner to squint down the hallway. They’d managed to get down to the first floor without being caught, but there was still a risk of someone spotting them and sending them back to their rooms. Which would mean another day of disgusting hospital food that was mostly oatmeal, lukewarm water, and what was probably applesauce. Ugh.

Okay, so maybe Hunk’s stomach was still super nervous from the accident, and maybe Lance was still dealing with weird body temperature drops, and maybe there was a pretty good reason for the nurses and such to be so worried, especially with all the headaches he and Hunk had been getting. _But_ , and this was what had motivated Lance into this scheme in the first place, that was no reason for the nurses to give them crappy oatmeal and applesauce. They at least deserved some variety! Honestly. It was almost like they wanted Lance and Hunk to sneak out.

“All right, we’re clear,” whispered Lance. He and Hunk crept around the corner, looked both ways, then darted down the hallway and toward the last door at the end – the doors to the cafeteria.

As they stepped through the doors, the smell of food washed over them. Meats, starches, baked goods, gravies, spices, and all sorts of things that Lance had been dreaming of ever since his second meal of oatmeal and applesauce. Ugh.

Lance almost groaned at the smells that tickled his tongue and nose. Behind him, Hunk made a quiet noise of pleasure and darted in front of Lance, heading for the long buffets of food along one wall. There was a sign above it which said “Free to patients and staff of the hospital – not visitors!” and Lance whispered a thank you to the sky before he followed after Hunk. He knew the patients were allowed in here. Stupid lying nurses.

The two piled up their trays with as much as they could – Hunk focusing on breakfast foods and Lance focusing on sweeter foods – before trying to spot a table.

It was about that time that Lance recognized somebody, or rather, two somebodies, at one of the tables. He elbowed Hunk and nodded toward them.

“Aren’t they from the museum?” he whispered. Hunk’s gaze followed Lance’s and Lance felt him go tense at his side. As far as Lance could tell, it was the mullet guy – Keith – and the guy with one arm who Lance didn’t know the name of. One-arm guy looked like he was in bad shape, and his hair had picked up a white spot that made him look a bit like a skunk.

In a good way, of course. Not a smelly, creepy animal sort of way. No matter what Hunk said, skunks were _not_ cute. …Maybe the guy was closer to a ferret, on second thought.

Lance grabbed Hunk’s shirt and dragged him toward the guys, nodding when they saw him. Keith looked confused, but Lance saw the recognition in the other guy’s face.

“Hey,” said Lance. “Mind if we sit?”

“Yes,” said Keith, frowning.

“Not at all,” said the other guy at the same time. The two looked at each other. Keith glared, though Lance thought it was closer to a pout, and folded his arms.

“ _Shiro_ ,” he said, voice low with warning. Shiro, apparently that was the other guy’s name, gave Keith a level stare that could have made Lance’s rowdiest siblings sit down for story time. It was a little impressive – both the look and the fact that Keith only rolled his eyes and muttered _“fine”._

Lance and Hunk sat down in the other two chairs at the circular table, setting down their trays and exchanging a look. Hunk had wanted to check in on these guys, but the look on his face made Lance think that maybe he’d made a mistake. It didn’t help that all four of them were in identical, if worn slightly different, clothes. Pastel blue pants, t-shirts, and slippers. Keith had his sleeves shoved up and pinned to his shoulders, and the back of his neck was damp with sweat, Lance noticed when Keith turned his head. Lance still wore his robe, having tied it tightly to try and keep out the cold. And Shiro? Well, his heavily bandaged stump poked out of his sleeve, though not by much, and his clothes were a little too big on him, but that was it.

“So, uh, it’s good to see you guys upright,” said Lance, rubbing the back of his neck. “Was kind of worried about you two.” He looked between them. “More you, than Keith,” said Lance, nodding to Shiro. “But, you know, worried.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “How do you know my name?” he asked, lowering his arms slightly.

“I heard him say it,” said Lance, nodding to Shiro again. “What are you guys, uh…?”

“Brothers,” said Shiro.

_“Half_ -brothers,” corrected Keith with enough venom in his voice that Hunk shrunk away from him.

“O-kay,” said Lance, drawing out the word. “One awkward subject change, coming up.” He cleared his throat. “So, I’m Lance, this is Hunk.”

Keith cocked an eyebrow and it half disappeared into his bangs. “And we care, why, exactly?”

Shiro gave a sharp, “Keith!” in his direction. Keith’s scowl deepened. “Be nice.”

Keith rolled his eyes and went back to scowling sullenly at the table.

Shiro sighed. “Sorry about him,” he said. “So, you two were at the museum? I remember, you pulled Keith out.”

Keith’s head came up. “Wait, that was you two?” He squinted at them, working his jaw. “Thanks, I guess. Should’a gotten him first though.” He didn’t say who ‘him’ was, Lance thought it was pretty obvious.

With a quiet wince, Hunk shrunk in his seat. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“You should be,” said Keith.

“Keith!” Shiro’s voice was sharp and Keith shrunk back, putting one hand to his head.

“I’m sorry, okay? _Fuck_ ,” snapped Keith, rubbing his head. He brought up his other hand and cradled his head in them. “I can’t fucking _think_ , Shiro, gimme a _break_.” He curled in on himself, eyes squeezed shut as he cradled his head. “I’m not _you_ , they didn’t give me the good shit for these.”

It took a second for Lance to realize what Keith was talking about. “Wait, headache?” he guessed.

“Try migraine, genius,” muttered Keith. He drew his legs up into his chair and pressed his face into his knees, hugging his arms around his shins. “Damn it.” His shoulders trembled from his breathing. Lance half wanted to reach out and comfort the guy, maybe rub his back. His mama had always rubbed his back and neck when he got headaches from the flu. Maybe it’d help.

“There’s nothing they’ll give you for them?” asked Hunk.

Keith shook his head. “Nothing is _touching_ them. They’ve been on and off since I woke up.” He took a deep breath, shoulders shuddering. “’ve gotten them my whole life, but they’ve gotten worse.” He rubbed at his temples, taking deep breaths through his nose. “I’m going back to my room,” he muttered, and then he was getting up and stumbling off, one hand on his head and the other out for balance.

Shiro watched him go, something soft in his eyes, before he turned his attention back to Hunk and Lance. Lance watched Keith’s retreating form, pressing his lips together, and then looked back at Shiro.

“Has he tried neck compresses?” asked Hunk. “They helped mine.”

“You get them too?” asked Shiro.

Hunk shook his head, his bangs flopping in his face. “I got one when I woke up, but that was it.” He frowned, looking worried. “Has he really gotten them his whole life?”

“Yeah,” said Shiro. He tugged his fingers through his hair, tugging at the white a little harder than the rest. He looked down at his breakfast, which was a couple of pancakes, and frowned. “Don’t suppose I could ask you for a favour?”

“Sure,” said Hunk.

Shiro nudged his plate closer to Hunk, a sheepish smile on his face. “They’re too thick to cut with a fork and, uh,” he lifted his stump, “can’t exactly use a knife and a fork together.”

“No trouble,” said Hunk. He took the plate, and Shiro’s fork, and set to work on cutting up the pancakes for him while Lance resumed his questions.

“So, do you have any idea what happened?” asked Lance. A breeze tickled the back of his neck and he wrapped his arms around himself, ignoring the food in favour of trying to keep himself warm. God, why was the _cafeteria_ of all places so cold? Ugh.

Lance sniffled. He was going to get a cold at this rate. Ew.

“Reactor overload is all they’ll tell us,” said Shiro.

“Same with us,” said Hunk, sliding the now-cut pancakes over to Shiro.

He smiled. “Thanks.” Then, he turned his attention back to Lance as he stabbed a bit of pancake with his fork. The action was slightly clumsy, like he hadn’t quite gotten the hang of being left-handed yet. “The news is keeping quiet too, actually. We have no idea why, but they’re not saying anything outside of ‘an accident at the science museum, presumably caused by Altean Corporation technology.’” He frowned, a shadow going across his face. “It’s… weird.”

“Yeah, it is,” said Lance. He huffed and hugged himself a little tighter. “Why is it so cold!”

Shiro frowned. “Wait, you’re cold?” Lance nodded. Shiro cocked his head. “Keith’s been warm. Maybe it has something to do with the reactor.”

“Why would the reactor mess up our body heat?” asked Lance.

Hunk hummed and set to work on cutting up his sausages. “Well, the reactor was unprecedented, so they can’t be sure of any true side effects yet, you know? That’s probably why we’re being kept under such strict watch, because they have no idea how any of this will affect us.” He dipped his sausage slice in ketchup and held it up on his fork, looking thoughtful. “Temperature change and headaches could just be temporary side effects, like a rash or something.”

“I hope so,” said Shiro, looking to the door where Keith had left. He frowned. “For both of your sakes.” His gaze swept back toward Lance and Lance managed a smile, before sniffling again.

“You haven’t had any symptoms?” asked Hunk.

“Other than your skunk stripe?” asked Lance. Hunk shot him a look, part horrified, part annoyed. Lance winced, realizing how that sounded, now that he thought about it.

Shiro only laughed, soft and warm all at once. Lance couldn’t help but smile at the sound. There was something undeniably comforting about such a sound. Like listening to your older brother tell you that you did a good job, or hearing the first chords of your favourite song after a bad day.

It was that kind of laugh.

“It’s fine,” said Shiro, he shook his head, a wry amusement in the twist of his lips. “You’re the first one to actually _ask_ about the hair, besides the doctors.” He ate another piece of pancake, still smiling as he looked at Lance. “You’re an interesting one, Lance.”

Lance shrugged. “Thanks, man. Hey,” he squinted at Shiro, “how’re you so chill?”

Shiro smiled, looking amused. “Honestly?” Lance and Hunk nodded. Shiro chuckled. “They have me on so many painkillers I can smell colours half the time.” He raised an eyebrow, which was weirdly well shaped for a guy, and his smile went lopsided. “I don’t think an alien invasion could upset me right now.”

Lance snorted. “Okay, _fair_.” Damn, how bad had the guy gotten hurt to be on the good painkillers? Or maybe it was just the arm. …Maybe he and Hunk should offer to walk the guy back to his room after this.

Hunk was eating next to him, looking more invested in his breakfast than in the conversation, but Lance knew better. He knew Hunk was running every angle of what was going on in his head, trying to get enough answers cobbled together to start forming conclusions. Hunk was the best guy Lance knew at solving problems. If they could get a few more answers – maybe from those other two that had been in the museum – then they could get out of here and things could go back to normal.

Assuming Iverson didn’t, you know, expel him and Hunk, that was.

“Hey, have you seen the other two from the museum?” asked Lance. “There were six of us that went down, but us, you, and your brother only make four.”

Shiro frowned and shook his head. “Can’t say I have, I’m sure they’ll turn up. I’d like to make sure they’re all right.”

“Same,” said Lance, and Hunk nodded, mouth full of eggs. Together, the three of them kept chatting and eating, while, all the while, Lance was aware of just how clueless all of them were.

They’d figure something out eventually, so long as Hunk had his mind set on it. Besides, it wasn’t like answers were just going to drop from the sky, or something. That’d be ridiculous.

* * *

 

Keith rubbed at his head, his entire world pounding and pulsing as it slid out of focus again and again. Pain split his head down the centre, leaving him stumbling as the purple spots overtook his vision. He pressed one hand to the wall, cursed, and slid to the floor, pressing his back to the cool wall. Cradling his head in his hands, Keith curled himself back into a ball and tried to think about anything other than the pain and the nausea and the _heat._ It was so fucking _hot_ and he wanted to claw off his clothes and maybe his skin.

Something, anything, to get rid of this awful, pervasive heat.

Keith wasn’t sure how long he stayed like that, curled up in the hallway with the cool wall and floor the only relief to the fire that burned inside him. His migraine pounded on, making every sound echo like a bomb going off in his head. Even his own heartbeat and breathing were too loud, explosive and all-encompassing as he tried to get his head back together.

It could have been minutes; it could have been hours. Keith had no concept of time anymore. No concept of anything outside the pounding in his head and the sloshing in his stomach.

“Hey, are you okay?” The voice was tiny, rough but there all the same, and Keith wasn’t sure the voice was real until he dragged his head from his hands to look up.

The voice spoke again, the figure largely obscured by the purple spots and blurriness. “My name’s Katie. You were in the museum.”

Katie extended her hand, or at least, Keith thought she did, and Keith took it. Immediately, the pain spiked before disappearing altogether, leaving him flinching back as she flinched back from him.

“What the hell?” snapped Keith, staring at his hand. It tingled. The spots were gone, his vision was clear, and he had no idea what had happened. One moment, unending pain, the next, he was fine. The heat was still there, but it wasn’t as strong either.

“Dude!” said Katie, cradling her hand. She stared at him from behind circular, wire frame glasses. “Why are you so hot?”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know!” he said, throwing his hands into the air. The two stared at each other a moment longer before Katie spoke again.

“Ow,” she whispered before blowing on her hand. Keith stood properly and held out his hand; she drew back.

“Let me see,” he said. She shook her head and he sighed. “Look, I think I’m cooler now. Please, let me see?” The words came out as a question and he tried to look as small and unintimidating as possible. After a moment, Katie held out her hand, and Keith slowly, carefully, took it between his own.

She didn’t flinch, so he figured the heat was gone. As he looked at her hand, he noticed it was perfectly fine. He frowned. No redness, nothing. The way she’d jumped, he’d thought she’d be a little red. Or a burn.

Not that people could give other people burns, that was just his love of bad science fiction movies talking. Maybe Shiro was right. Maybe he should stop watching them before bed.

“Weird,” said Katie. She took her hand back and squinted at it. “I thought for sure…” She peered up at him and adjusted her glasses. “…This is going to sound weird.”

“But?” prompted Keith, raising an eyebrow.

“But… have you noticed anything _strange_ lately?” Katie squinted at him, and Keith got a feeling that if he tried to lie – which he was completely awful at – she’d see through it immediately.

“Strange?” he echoed. What, like the heat? That wasn’t that weird. The doctors said he had a recurring, temporary fever. Nothing to worry about. Besides, the heat only became a problem when his migraines got bad, they were probably connected.

“Uh, maybe?” he said. He ran his fingers through the hair on the back of his neck and pursed his lips. “Migraines and weird fevers.”

Katie flexed the hand she’d helped him up with and hummed. Keith wondered what she was thinking.

“Wind,” she said, after a moment. Keith blinked, unsure of what she meant. She looked up at him again. “I can hear the wind, even though we’re inside. Either my hearing got better – which is completely ridiculous – or something happened to my head.” She pointed a finger at him and Keith leaned back from it, eyes wide. “So something happened to you too.”

Keith sighed. “I have no idea what, though.”

Katie tapped her chin, lips pursed and eyes narrowed in thought. “Neither do I, but it must have something to do with the reactor.” She studied him, eyes still narrowed, and shook her head. “If only I had _access_ to it…”

“You want to go back to it?” asked Keith, the disbelief naked in his voice. “After everything that happened – after we nearly _died_ – you want to go back to it?” He shook his head, sharp and quick. “No way. Besides, how would we even get out – we’re all under watch.”

Katie sighed and tilted her head back, staring at the ceiling. “Ugh, this is so complicated!” She adjusted her glasses with one hand, fingers brushing the glass and making her grimace. “I wish I knew what to do.”

Keith shrugged, stuffing his thumbs in the waistband of his pants. “All we can do is wait. Once they let us out, we can figure stuff out, but as long as we’re in here, we’re out of luck.”

With a nod, Katie said, “Yeah, I guess.” She flashed a little smile at him. “Thanks, man.” And with that, she was gone, heading toward the cafeteria. Keith wondered if she’d snuck out, like he figured those guys, Lance and Hunk, had, or if she’d been let out, like him and Shiro.

It didn’t really matter.

Shaking his head, he rubbed his hands together and headed back to his room. All the while, the hand Katie had grabbed tingled on and off, reminding him of the strange, and mysterious, disappearance of his migraine.

* * *

 

Allura had been awake for less than an hour when her father and papa came into her room. Her papa came in with his usual flare for the dramatic, his orange mustache twirling around his finger. Her father, by contrast, came in as silent as ever, a warm smile on his face and a softness in his eyes.

“My darling,” he said, in that warm voice of his. “It’s so wonderful to see you awake.”

“Indeed!” said Papa, grinning at her. “We were dreadfully worried about you.”

Allura smiled and reached up, brushing back a strand of hair from her face. She was aware, try as she might not to be, that her father and her papa were masking their worry for her. That they were dealing with fallout from the reactor while also worrying if she’d ever be healthy again.

She wished she had a way to help them.

“Papa, I’m fine,” said Allura. She looked at her father, who smiled at her. She returned the gesture. “Really.”

Papa frowned, tapping his chin. “Now, I just don’t believe that. I’m going to go get us all some food.” He passed her father, who took the opportunity to squeeze his shoulder, and then he was gone, muttering something about “decent tea” as he did.

With a raised eyebrow, Allura turned her attention back to her father. “He is aware that we’re the British ones, right? New Zealanders aren’t nearly as critical of it,” she said.

Her father chuckled. “Yes, but you know Coran, always looking out for us. Besides, he lived in England long enough to pick up its customs, if not its accent.”

“Part of it, anyway,” said Allura, drily. They both laughed and Allura turned her attention back to her father in time to see his expression falter for just a moment. “I’m fine, really.”

“Allura, they have you on powerful medication right now,” said her father. Allura sighed. Logically, she knew that, but her mind was more a distant fog than a constant menace. The pain was there, faint, but there, and she was aware of the IV drip at her side, but none of those things touched her. Allura’s mind, what was left of it, was instead focused on the events leading up to her being in the hospital.

The accident. The reactor. The explosion.

The fallout.

“How bad is it?” asked Allura. Her father sighed and touched the curtain across the window, brushing it aside to look out onto the day. The light that shone on his face marked it as daytime, but Allura knew little else. The distant headache she’d woken up with, numbed now by medication, had prevented her from opening the curtain when she’d first awoken.

“Not nearly as terrible as it could be,” said her father. Allura frowned, about to tell him that that was hardly an answer at all, but he continued. “Our stocks fell, and we’ve lost several moderate investors. However, Coran believes he found… tampering in the reactor, and with that information, we’ve managed to save the company from at least half of the fallout.”

Allura nodded, pressing her lips together. Half was good. Half could be recovered from. However, there was the small matter of _how_ they were saving themselves.

“Tampering?” she echoed. She shook her head, pressing her lips as tight as she could. No, that couldn’t be right. “How on earth did someone manage to tamper with our reactor?”

Her father looked away, a distant air about him. Allura clenched her hands in her lap, aware of the soft blankets beneath her hands.

“Father,” she said, voice tight. “What happened? Katie, the other people, the museum.” Tears welled up in her eyes and she choked back a sob. _Katie._ What had happened to Katie? “What happened?” Her voice cracked on the last word and she pressed her lips together again, blinking back tears.

Her father faltered, mouth open. Then, he closed it and crossed the room to her, sitting down on her bed to draw her into a hug. Allura buried her face in his shoulder and let herself break. Let the tears soak her father’s shoulder as she clung to his shirt and shook like a leaf in a windstorm, scarcely clinging to the surface of her world.

After a time, Allura stopped her crying, though she didn’t pull back. Faintly, she was aware of a hand on her back that couldn’t belong to her father.

“Easy, Allura,” whispered her papa. “We’re here for you. Take all the time you need.”

Allura sniffled and turned her head to the side to look at her papa. “I…” Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I need to know what happened.”

Her papa nodded and sat back on the bed, looking up to the ceiling. “The museum is largely intact, beyond the exhibit hall we used. The Altean Corporation is, of course, handling repair costs.” His gaze flicked to her father, just out of her sight. She felt her father swallow. “Everyone who was caught in the blast is fine – you were the last to awaken.”

“Katie is fine,” said her father, the low rumble of his voice a comfort against her cheek. “She needed glasses, but otherwise, she was fine.” There was a pause, pregnant with meaning, that made Allura sit up so she could look at both her fathers.

“What?” she asked.

“You were the worst off,” said her papa, slowly. “The explosion centred on you and another young man, Takashi Shirogane.”

Allura started, eyes going wide. “ _Shiro_?” She recognized the name like it was her own. They’d graduated from the same year in the Garrison. Shiro had been a pilot, she’d been an engineer. They’d never crossed paths – they were on different teams, after all – but everyone in that year had known of Shiro. He’d been the most promising pilot in the program, fast-tracked for the next Mars mission.

Then… She shook her head. This was the part she hated remembering.

Then, about a year ago, the news had reported his car accident. The car had veered off the road, slammed into a tree, and ignited. He’d lost an arm. And no one, not even the Garrison, had heard anything about him since.

Beyond the news report, Allura hadn’t thought of Shiro since their graduation. Now, knowing that he’d been in the museum that day – that he’d been the man she’d been trying to get out – it was impossible not to be a little shocked. How had she not noticed who he was? Of course, there’d been more pressing matters, but…

Allura frowned, then gave a short, sharp gasp at the pain. Her hand flew to her face and found the mark that hurt.

“I need a mirror,” she said, tightly.

Her fathers exchanged a glance.

“I can handle it,” she said, cutting them off before they could say anything against her. “I need a mirror.”

Her papa sighed and got to his feet, slipping into the small bathroom next to the room. When he returned, he was holding a hand mirror.

“Now, it’s not bad, Allura, I assure you,” said her papa, handing her the mirror face down. She nodded and took the mirror with trembling hands. After a moment, she turned it over, biting her lip, and raised it to her face.

Two boomerang shaped scars stared back at her, under the outer corner of each eye. They were no longer than an inch long, at most, and not even half as thick. She gave a tiny nod and handed the mirror back to her papa, before it could upset her further.

“All right,” she said. “It could be worse.” Her voice was tight, her mind distracted, but even still, she saw the look her fathers exchanged. “…What else is there?” She was almost afraid to ask.

“Your back,” said her father, slowly. “It took most of the damage. They have you on medication right now, which is most likely why you aren’t in pain.” He looked to her papa, his eyes soft. “You have lightning scars, Allura.”

“Well,” said Allura, voice still tight and quivering. “I suppose I won’t be wearing low back dresses anymore, will I?” The joke fell flat, her voice too far gone to keep the mirth it needed. Her fathers looked sympathetic. “Could I…” Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat. “Could I see Katie? I miss her.”

Her father nodded. “Of course, my darling.” He kissed her forehead and stood. Her papa followed, and the two left the room.

Once they were gone, Allura put her head in her hands and forced herself to regulate her breathing. She wouldn’t cry, not again. She had to be stronger than that. Once she knew what was going on, she could work toward fixing it. If she was the worst off, then obviously everyone else had to be fine, right?

God, this was all her fault. She never should have helped with the reactor. If she hadn’t, then maybe none of this would have ever happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked the chapter, please consider leaving a comment!
> 
> Next week: _Chapter Four: Scars_


	4. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet ups and discoveries. Just what is going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is coming out a bit later than usual, but I managed to get it out on time! So, things are finally moving for these six, only time will tell what comes of it.
> 
> Quick warning: this chapter has a panic attack from the POV of the person having it about halfway through the first scene. Stay safe everyone!

It was two days before Keith or Shiro saw any of the other people from the museum again. Keith had told Shiro he’d met one of the girls from the museum – a younger one named Katie who seemed weirdly perceptive. Shiro was almost positive that Keith was hiding something from him, but there was no way to ask without sounding invasive. He respected Keith’s privacy. If something was truly the matter, and if that something could endanger either of them, Shiro knew that Keith would tell him.

As it stood, Keith and Shiro were allowed to be out of their rooms for most of the day, returning only when it was time for tests or for visiting hours. Their parents came and went, both of them busy with work, and Shiro enjoyed the time he had with them. Their father and Keith weren’t getting along, but that was normal, even if Shiro wished it wasn’t.

They hadn’t gotten along for years now. It was just the way it went.

Shiro was worried about him, but he always was. Especially now, seeing as Keith kept spiking random fevers while Shiro seemed to be recovering cleanly. It didn’t seem right, to Shiro. He’d been the one caught in the explosion. He’d been the one to take the brunt of it. So why was he perfectly fine, save a few new scars, a sore stump, and a skunk stripe? Keith wasn’t recovering. His headaches were getting more frequent and intense, and his fever kept spiking to dangerous levels.

They’d kicked Shiro out of the room this morning, telling him to go for a walk while they iced Keith. Keith had insisted he was fine, that he’d survive, but Shiro had seen the fear in Keith’s eyes. He’d even let Dad stand close-by.

He never let Dad get close.

So now, Shiro walked the halls, his hand stuffed into his pocket, and wondered when, and if, Keith would recover.

He sighed to himself as he headed toward the courtyard. He wasn’t hungry and, besides, the noise of the cafeteria was too much for him to handle on his own. The courtyard of the hospital, however – a little outdoor garden with a winding path located in the inside edges of the hospital, between buildings – was just his speed.

Shiro pulled his hand from his pocket to open the door leading into the courtyard. It was marked ‘no exit’, emphasizing that the courtyard was located in the inner ‘ring’ of the hospital, surrounded on all sides by the building itself. There was no way out into the outside world through the courtyard, but it was still outside. Still quiet.

Still beautiful.

With a soft sigh, Shiro padded into the courtyard, enjoying the light and the quiet. After a moment, he sat down on one of the benches in the courtyard, resting his hand on the smooth stone as he looked out over the garden. The trees formed a canopy above Shiro’s head, throwing him and the rest of the courtyard into a pleasantly cool shade. It was a warm day, especially for May, and Shiro planned on enjoying as much of it as he could, even if he was worried about his brother.

_Half_ -brother, Keith would have said.

Shiro wished that little distinction didn’t bother Keith so much. Wished Keith could understand that the ‘half’ part had never bothered the three of them – their mother, father, or Shiro – beyond the frustrations or arguing with their father’s side of the family.

_Shiro’s_ father, Keith would have said. And Shiro wouldn’t have said a word, because what was he supposed to do? It was true in the loosest sense of the term. Even if Shiro knew Dad had raised Keith as his own.

It didn’t help that Keith’s features didn’t match up with the rest of the family. It didn’t help that he had a different name. Hell, part of why Shiro went by Shiro, instead of Takashi, was because people questioned Keith's name a lot less if Shiro didn’t sound like he had a traditionally Japanese name too.

Shiro tugged his fingers through his hair, frowning. God, he just wished Keith could forget about all that for a few days. It would make everything so much easier. But with the hospital, and the museum, everything had been dragged back to the surface.

With their mother pushing going to the family reunion – her side of the family, not Dad’s – in August, the question of Keith going had been on everyone’s minds. He was theirs by blood, but the circumstances of his birth, the affair that had gave birth to him, quite literally, wasn’t something the family talked about. And, more often than not, Keith ended up being glossed over to avoid the problem of talking about why he looked a bit different – a bit _whiter_ – than the rest of the family.

Curious cousins made for bad conversations.

“I wish it were simpler,” murmured Shiro. “I wish I could make him understand.” But understand what, Shiro wasn’t quite sure.

He sat there in silence for a few more minutes, staring up at the canopy, until a shadow passed over him that was distinctly human.

“Shiro? Is that you?” The words belonged to a voice that was positively lyrical, and one that Shiro had heard a thousand times, even if he’d never truly spoken to the woman behind it.

He turned his head and smiled at the woman next to him. “Hello, Allura.”

Allura tucked a strand of white-blonde hair behind one ear and returned Shiro’s smile. Shiro’s gaze temporarily found the odd, almost boomerang shaped, scars beneath her eyes, but he paid them no mind. He’d gained his fair share of scars since they’d last stood in the same space.

“It’s good to see you again,” said Allura. Her voice was small in the open space of the courtyard, but it fit under the canopy almost perfectly. She sat down on the bench next to Shiro, keeping almost a foot between them.

“You too,” he said. They’d known each other in passing, the way two prodigies often did, but it was nice to finally sit down with Allura and speak with her. Especially after the museum. “How are you feeling?”

Allura brushed her hair back from her face, blowing at her bangs. “I’ve been better, to be quite honest, but I’ll survive.” She glanced from the bushes and trees to Shiro, gaze lingering for only a moment before it returned to the trees. Her hands gripped the bench tight enough to lighten her knuckles. “And you?”

“Recovering cleanly, apparently. Though, I’m not quite sure how,” said Shiro. He rested his hand in his lap, glad that Allura was on his left side, as opposed to his right. “It seems strange, that the explosion didn’t affect me as much as my brother.”

“Keith?” guessed Allura. Shiro nodded. “I’d heard, through my father, that he’s been suffering from… fevers?” Another question, rather than a statement, despite her words being truth.

Shiro sighed. “And migraines. They’ve tried everything they can think of, but no luck so far.” He frowned, staring down at his hand as he clenched and unclenched his fist. Phantom pain danced down his right arm, trying to clench a fist that was no longer there. He took a deep breath and forced his entire body to relax, hoping it would help.

“Seems we’re all suffering from some sort of ailment,” murmured Allura. She scowled at the plants, eyes narrowed. “I never should have agreed to helping get the reactor online.”

“You couldn’t have predicted this. I’m just grateful we’re all alive.” He frowned, chewing on the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. He winced, swallowed, and hoped it wouldn’t stain his teeth before he could rinse out his mouth. “But…”

“But?” prompted Allura.

Shiro clenched his fist again, fighting back the pain from the reflex clenching of a hand he could no longer clench. “But if Keith is getting worse, then who’s to say that the rest of us won’t? Who’s to say that we won’t be in hospital beds, struggling with migraines and fevers no one can solve?” He shook his head, the words tumbling out of him before he could stop them. “What if we get worse, Allura? What if we all get worse and we can never go home again? What if…?” He broke off, shaking his head again and dropping his gaze so she wouldn’t see the tears that had gathered in his eyes.

_Damn it._ He couldn’t panic, not now, not so far from his room. He needed to breathe. Just _breathe._

“If it makes you feel any better, I took the brunt of the explosion and I’m still standing,” said Allura, drily. Shiro’s head snapped up, eyes going wide, eyebrows shooting for his hairline, and mouth falling open. “Sorry,” said Allura, wincing. “That was a poorly timed joke.”

Shiro blinked a few times, tears gathering and falling as he tried to control his breathing. It was a losing battle. He couldn’t think, couldn’t speak, couldn’t calm himself. The chasm loomed, a thousand ‘what ifs’ and ‘should haves’ and ‘you’ll never be good enough to save hims’. Shiro sucked in a breath, but it shook. His entire body shook. The world went far away.

And that was it. Tears slid faster and faster down his cheeks, his mind screaming as he buried his face in his remaining hand. His right side flared with pain, screaming at him as it tried to help his left hand. But it couldn’t. It couldn’t do anything because it was gone. And he was useless. _Useless, useless, useless._

He shouldn’t have gone to the museum.

He shouldn’t have told Keith he wanted to go.

He couldn’t protect his brother. He couldn’t protect himself. He couldn’t protect anyone. He was just a useless excuse for a human being who couldn’t even help _himself_ , let alone—

“Shiro!” Sharp words but they didn’t land.

_Useless, useless, useless,_ his brain chanted on.

Keith was in his hospital room. They didn’t even want Shiro around because he was _useless_. He couldn’t help his little brother. He couldn’t even do that. And if he couldn’t do that, then what hope did he have? All he was anymore was a god damn burden. Just another god damn burden.

That’s all he could ever be.

“Shiro!” Hands on his knees. A shift. A whisper. He opened his eyes. Everything screamed. His vision blurred as tears kept falling. Allura kneeled in front of him, rubbing circles with her thumbs on his knees. “Look at me.” Her words were echo-y and far away, everything pounding until Shiro was positive that he’d never hear anything else again.

But he looked at her. Because he could follow instructions. Instructions were simple.

“Match my breathing. You’re breathing far too quickly.”

Was he? His body shook from it. His breaths sharp in his ears like everything else in his body. But he couldn’t tell how fast they were. Everything was fast. Too fast, too loud, but too quiet and faraway at the same time.

She took a deep, visible breath. Shiro mimicked it. She breathed out, so did he. And he followed her. Watching her breathing until he knew he was mimicking it perfectly. They went on and on, her hands on his knees, his hand on the side of his face, wiping at his tears as he sniffled.

“Good,” whispered Allura. “Good.”

He nodded, continuing to match her breathing. His chest hurt – tight and constricted as he shivered and tried not to think about the darkness, the thoughts, that lingered just out of sight.

_Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think._

“Five things,” said Allura. Shiro blinked. “Five things you like.”

“Uh,” said Shiro. He swallowed, ignoring the crack in his voice. “Okay. Um. Chocolate.”

Allura nodded, still rubbing circles on his knees. “Good, that’s one.” Shiro used the feeling to ground himself. He thought he might float away if he didn’t.

“Summer. My brother, Keith. Um.” God, this was hard. “Dogs, I love dogs. And uh, fajitas.”

Allura nodded again, smiling warmly at him. Her hands squeezed his knees. “Four people you know.”

“You,” said Shiro. Allura nodded, still smiling warmly at him. “My brother, my mom, and my dad.” Still hesitant, but slowly speeding.

“Good,” said Allura, her voice soft. But the ringing in Shiro’s ears was fading, and his heartbeat was slowing, and bit by bit the sound of his heart and his breathing grew quieter and quieter. “Three sports.”

“Soccer, hockey, football,” said Shiro, his voice growing more sure with every word. His breathing came easier now, no longer forcibly matched to Allura. The shivering of his mind and body faded as well.

“Two animals,” said Allura.

Shiro smiled now, shaky but there. “Dogs and cats.”

Allura giggled and nodded. “Good, good. And one thing you can see – that isn’t me.”

With growing confidence, Shiro looked away from Allura. Almost immediately, he jerked back from her, eyes growing wide. “Allura!” His voice was tight. She looked over her shoulder and saw what he had.

A vine from a nearby rose bush sat next to her shoulder, and Shiro was _positive_ that those vines hadn’t been there before.

With a yelp, Allura jerked around and bumped into Shiro’s knees. They both stared at the vine, unsure of what else to do. After a moment, it curled back toward the nearby rosebush, disappearing into the expanse of thorns and flowers.

“What was _that_?” asked Shiro.

Allura swallowed. “I’m afraid I have no idea.” Her voice was shaky. The two looked to one another – Shiro down, Allura up – and stared. “But I… I don’t think that was you.”

“Neither do I,” said Shiro.

Allura stood, visibly shaking, and held out a hand to Shiro. He took it and she pulled him to his feet. They both stared at the bushes. “That was me, wasn’t it?” she asked.

Shiro nodded, slowly. “I think it was.”

They stared at each other, eyes wide.

“I need to tell Katie,” said Allura.

“I’m coming with you,” said Shiro. Allura nodded and the two ran for the courtyard door, neither letting go of the other’s hand the entire way.

* * *

 

Lance growled as he stalked down at the hall after Keith. The guy was a stumbling mess, and Lance wasn’t sure how the guy had even gotten out of bed this morning, he looked like death warmed over, but he’d _still_ managed to steal Lance’s coffee when they’d passed each other.

“Keith! Get back here! That’s my coffee!” shouted Lance as he came after Keith.

Hunk scurried after Lance. “Not so loud,” said Hunk. “We could wake up other patients, or get in trouble with the nurses.”

“I don’t care,” said Lance. He reached out to grab Keith, but Keith ducked around him, one shoulder bumping the wall. “I want my hot coffee.”

“Hot coffee?” said Keith. He turned and stared at Lance like Lance was the biggest idiot he’d ever met. Which, for the record, was completely unfair. “This is an _iced_ coffee I stole from you.”

“Ha! You admit that you stole it,” said Lance, triumphantly. Then, realizing what Keith said, he blinked. “Wait, what? It was a _hot coffee_ when I got it! What did you do?” He glared at Keith, who scowled and jerked back from him. Sure enough, when Lance looked at the coffee, it was slushy like an ice coffee was.

How did that happen? Lance had just gotten it and it’d be piping hot. He’d barely held it for a minute before Keith had snagged it.

“Gimme back my coffee!” said Lance. He’d figure out what had happened to it later. Right now, he just wanted his damn drink. He reached out to grab it, but Keith jerked back. Their hands met, both gripping the coffee, and they tugged back and forth on it. Keith’s hands were stupidly hot and the warmth drove through Lance, cutting the ice that had clung to him for days in half.

Lance let out a sharp noise as the cold dropped away; Keith let out a similar noise and both jerked at the same time. The coffee went flying, half frozen, half boiling, as it and the paper cup went clattering and splashing to the ground.

With a yelp, they both leapt back from the coffee and from each other, eyes wide. Where the coffee trickled toward Keith, it steamed from heat. Where the coffee inched toward Lance, it froze in place. Both stared, first at the coffee, then at each other. Lance couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

What was going on? And, better question, why was he a normal temperature now? Why wasn’t he freezing? For days all he could feel was cold and now he just felt… _normal._

“Oh my god,” breathed Hunk from behind them. “Are you okay?” He came up beside Lance, who stared at Hunk with wide, terrified eyes. “What happened?”

“I have no idea,” whispered Lance.

“What did you do?” asked Keith, his voice tight.

Lance squawked. “Me?” He pointed at Keith, glaring. “This is all on you. You stole my coffee.”

Keith made a face, his confusion plain as day. “What? No, forget the stupid coffee. I’m not hot anymore.”

Lance scoffed. “Please, you were never that great.”

“No, you idiot,” said Keith. Lance squawked indignantly in response. “I’ve been spiking fevers for days, and now I just feel… normal.” Keith stared at him, and there was fear and confusion in his eyes that Lance knew had to be mirrored in his own. Keith had been running hot?

“I’ve been freezing since I woke up,” said Lance, his voice tiny. The two stared at each other, mouths dropping open and eyes going wide. “But, I feel fine too.” He swallowed hard. “…What did we do to each other?”

Shiro came around the corner behind Keith with a woman in tow that looked like she’d seen better days. Lance remembered, a second later, that she’d been in the museum that day. She’d been trying to get him and Hunk to take off so they wouldn’t get hurt.

“Keith!” Shiro’s voice was sharp with concern as he jogged up to Keith. He rested his hand on Keith’s shoulder and looked at him. “Are you okay? What happened? …Why is there coffee on the floor?”

“He started it!” said Keith, throwing a hand toward Lance.

“Hey!” protested Lance. Stomping one foot. “I did not, you were the one who stole my coffee, you… you… _coffee snatcher_.”

Keith glared at him, eyes narrowing and teeth baring. Lance crossed the coffee and got in Keith’s face, glaring just as hard.

“If you hadn’t gotten in my way,” started Keith.

Lance shot back, “If you hadn’t been such a thief.”

“You wanna go, pretty boy?” snapped Keith.

“Any time, any place, baby,” said Lance, grinning viciously.

“Both of you, enough,” said Shiro. He shouldered himself between Keith and Lance, shoving Keith back with one hand and glaring hard at Lance until Lance retreated a step. “Look at your feet.” Lance looked down and let out a sharp gasp, stumbling back until he bumped into Hunk.

The coffee beneath Lance’s feet had frozen solid, and the floor beneath Keith’s feet was slightly sticky looking – like all the water in the coffee had just… evaporated. Like a more extreme version of what had happened when they’d first spilled the coffee.

But how was any of this possible?

“What is happening to us?” said Lance, voice just this side of a whine. Fear ripped through him, shortening his vision until all he could see was the icy coffee that stared up at him, almost accusatorily.

“I might have an answer to that.” All of them – Lance, Hunk, Keith, Shiro, and the mystery lady – turned as one to see someone coming down the hall toward them.

“Katie, there you are,” said the mystery lady with Shiro. She stepped passed them and took Katie by one shoulder, leading her toward the others.

Katie flashed her a weak smile, adjusting her circular, wireframe glasses, and looked to the others. “I’ve been running some preliminary testing on what happened to us in the museum based on residue from the reactor on our old clothes.”

Hunk released Lance, stepping toward Katie. “You got our clothes? And labs? How?”

“I hacked the hospital and gave myself clearance under a fake name,” said Katie. She raised an eyebrow at Hunk, mouth lopsided and a little amused. “How else?” She dug a phone out of her pocket and tapped away at it, squinting. “From what I can gather, the reactor has fundamentally altered our genetic structure, but I don’t know enough about medicine or radioactivity to determine how, or even why.” She frowned.

“May I?” asked Hunk, holding out his hand. Katie handed him the phone. “My name’s Hunk, by the way. This is Lance.”

“Katie,” said Katie, nodding.

Shiro said, “Though your brother and I used to call you Pigeon.”

“Shiro?” Katie’s whole face lit up as she pushed passed Lance and Hunk to hug him. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You too, kiddo,” said Shiro, ruffling her hair before hugging her. “Missed you.” Resting his hand on Katie’s shoulder, he looked up at Hunk, who was still squinting at the phone. “Any ideas, Hunk?”

“A few. I’d need better equipment to figure it out – and asterium.” He looked up at them and flashed them an uneasy, weak smile. “If I had that, I could figure this out.”

The mystery lady stepped forward. “I can help with that.”

“I’m sorry,” said Lance, “who are you, exactly?”

“Allura Altea, at your service,” said the woman with a _lovely_ drawling voice.

Keith snorted. “Oh, so you’re the reason we’re all in here and half dead, then?”

“Keith!” Shiro’s voice was sharp, his eyes going wide as Allura took half a step back from Keith. Katie shot Keith a glare, visibly working her jaw.

“Dude, not cool,” said Lance. Regardless of whether or not it was true. Yeah, Altean Corp had been in charge of the reactor. And yeah, Allura’s name had _been_ on the reactor itself, but that didn’t mean this was her fault. She was a victim, just like the rest of them. She’d been caught in the blast too. By the looks of things, actually, she was the worst off.

She hadn’t gone into the museum that day with those scars under her eyes. They were raw, they were new. They were from the blast.

Shiro’s hair. Allura’s cheeks. And now these weird things happening around them – fire and ice and who knew what else.

God, what was happening to them?

“I…” Allura shook her head. Her voice quivered. “I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen. The reactor was _safe_.” She looked to each of them individually, her eyes so sad that Lance wondered if she wouldn’t start crying on one of their shoulders. Probably Shiro’s – he was the only one about her height. “It shouldn’t have overloaded. My father believes it was tampered with.”

Hunk spoke up. “You said you can help me get what I need, right?” Allura nodded. “Once we’re out of here, I’d like that. As far as I can tell, the doctors aren’t making progress on their end and,” he looked at the steam and ice on the floor, “I’d really like if we figured it out first. Whatever’s going on – they’re not going to like it.”

“Yeah, I’m getting serious government secret lab vibes from all this,” said Lance. He folded his arms. “And I don’t know about you guys, but I’m far too young, and too pretty, to get strapped to some lab table and dissected like a frog.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re the one making shit freeze by touching it. If anyone’s going to Area 51, it’ll be you.”

“Say hi to the aliens for me,” said Katie, cheerfully. Then she looked at Hunk and said, “Listen, I can get you what you need with Allura. We should swap numbers.”

“We should all swap numbers,” said Shiro in a commanding voice. “And keep track of one another. If something is happening to some of us, it’s bound to happen to us all.” His gaze fell to Hunk. “Have you had any symptoms? Anything… odd happening to you?”

“Any superpowers?” finished Lance. Everyone gave him a flat look. “What?” he asked, shrugging with his hands. At their continued stares, he scoffed. “Oh come on, that’s what they are. I’m freezing things, Keith’s boiling things, it’s gotta be superpowers.”

“I believe I made a plant move,” said Allura. She frowned. “Though, I’m not quite sure.”

Shiro nodded. “That’s three,” he said. “Hunk?” he asked again.

“Nothing,” said Hunk, shaking his head.

“Me neither,” said Shiro, frowning. “What about you, Pigeon?”

Katie frowned. “I keep hearing wind when there’s no wind, but I think that’s it.”

“You got rid of my headache,” said Keith, suddenly. “That has to be your thing, right?”

“Her ‘thing’?” echoed Lance, giving Keith a flat look. “Just call them what they are, Keith.”

“I am _not_ calling whatever it is that’s going on with us ‘superpowers’,” said Keith, putting air quotes around the last word. “Besides, this could all just be for now. Once we get out of the hospital, maybe everything will go back to normal.”

Lance spun to face him properly and jabbed a finger at him. “Dude, don’t even. These are _superpowers._ This is _awesome_.”

“You were just freaking out five minutes ago,” Keith shot back.

Lance waved him off. “Details, details.” Keith glared. Lance glared back, the two getting up in each other’s space again. Keith smelled vaguely like wood smoke. It was kind of weird.

“Are they always like this?” asked Allura.

Shiro sighed. “This is the second time they’ve met. So far? Yes, yes they are.” Then, to Lance and Keith, he said, “You two, knock it off,” and nudged them apart again. “Everyone swap numbers. When we get out of here, we’ll talk more, when I’m not worried about people walking in on us talking about superpowers and wondering if we need psychiatric evaluations.”

Lance blinked. Okay, that was definitely a fair point. Whoops. “Yeah, sounds good.”

The six wrote down their numbers on the pad of paper Katie had, swapping around until all of them had a piece of paper with the other five on it. They’d be getting their cellphones back soon, and Lance knew he’d be putting a smelly emoji next to Keith’s name. It only seemed fair. Allura could get a flower. Shiro would get a whistle for being all command-y. Maybe Katie would get a grin.

“Now, let’s head back to our rooms – Keith, I think you and I are getting released in the morning,” said Shiro. He put his hand on Keith’s shoulder and led them off, but not before shooting Allura a worried look.

Allura smiled at him. “I’m fine, Shiro, really,” she said.

He nodded. “Thanks for your help,” he said, voice soft and just a little rough. Then he was gone, leaving Lance to wonder exactly what Allura had helped with. Ah well, probably wasn’t his business anyway.

“Katie? Would you like to go get some food?” asked Allura.

Katie sighed and nodded, following Allura down the hall and toward the cafeteria. Lance had to wonder how those two knew each other. There had to be _at least_ five years between them. How could they have possibly met? Though, he had to admit it was a little amusing to watch Katie shift to a half jog to keep up with Allura’s long strides.

Then, all that was left was him and Hunk.

“What do you say buddy, you wanna head back and wait to get discharged?” asked Lance. He was pretty sure they were being released later that day, or else in the morning, but he couldn’t be sure.

Hunk nodded and Lance slung an arm around his shoulders. They headed back together, neither one saying much.

Despite his excitement, Lance couldn’t help but be a bit worried. Sure, now he knew what was going on with him, but that just brought up a thousand more questions – including the one about why Hunk didn’t seem to have any powers, or problems, yet. It was weird. Like a dream that he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to wake up from it yet. Like it could turn into a nightmare at any second and he was just waiting for something to go wrong.

Ah well, he’d figure it out once he got out of the hospital. Maybe he and Hunk could find their answers then. They always did better together anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all comments are welcome! Thanks for reading!


	5. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discoveries are afoot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the true plotline begins. Thank you to everyone who continues to support this fic, you all mean the world to me!

It was strange, almost, to be leaving the hospital after over a week of being there. Allura thought she might almost miss it. Not for the food, which was horrendous, nor the staff, who were frustrating, nor the accommodations, which were lackluster at best; but the routine, the safety, and the people she’d met there.

As Allura was led from the hospital by her fathers, she cast one last look over her shoulder, lips pressed together, before climbing into the backseat of her father’s car. She was the last one to leave the hospital, and, while she would miss the routine, she was eager to get back home.

While her fathers were preoccupied with the traffic and the radio, Allura slipped her phone from her pocket and sent a quick text to Katie.

_(10:05) Allura: Last one out. How are you holding up?  
(10:06) Katie: Good. Mom and Dad are being all weird, but Matt’s great. Hiding in his room with Rover._

Allura sighed quietly and tucked her phone back into her sweater pocket and leaned back in her seat to enjoy the drive and the quiet music. Her fathers didn’t ask her much, just allowed her to rest. Allura was grateful. She had a feeling that the circus around the museum had only just begun.

* * *

 

Lance squinted at his glass of water, face wrinkled in concentration as he focused every ounce of attention he had on the water. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his lungs ached from lack of air, and, in his distorted reflection in the glass, he could see himself turning almost purple with exertion.

“Dude, you look like you’re about to give birth,” said Hunk. Lance let out the breath he’d been holding with a gasp and slumped forward, arms folded on the dining room table. He dropped his forehead to his folded arms and sighed, pouting.

“Are you really trying to freeze the water with your brain?” asked Hunk.

Lance groaned quietly and lifted his forehead from his arms, resting his chin on them instead as he frowned at the glass. “I don’t get it,” he said. “It was so easy when I was in the hospital, now I can’t even make myself feel a little colder.” He pouted. Were his superpowers already gone? He hadn’t even gotten a chance to use them properly. Or give himself a cool superhero name like Killer Frost or Captain Cold. Or Iceman.

Though, Lance thought, remembering comic books, all three of those were taken. He had no idea what he’d call himself if he even was a proper superhero. And that was assuming his cool ice powers hadn’t just completely disappeared. Which would suck.

“It could be that our side effects have worn off,” said Hunk, propping his chin in one hand as he looked at the glass. “Or it could be that they only work around others with the same effects.” He shrugged, his gaze sliding over to Lance. “This isn’t the movies, Lance. These things take time to understand and control. Presuming you keep those abilities – and you might not – there’s no real way of figuring out how and if you can control them.”

Lance sighed and tilted his head to one side, leaning his cheek against his arm. “You sound like a textbook, dude, or a doctor.” Lance wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know which is worse.”

Hunk pouted. “I do not.”

“Yeah, you totally do,” said Lance. He shrugged and straightened in his seat, stretching his arms above his head. “You’ve gotta look at the bright side, man, we have superpowers! Or,” he looked at Hunk, “I do, at least, and so does Keith.” Lance made a face. “We can have fun with this.”

“Or, or, or,” said Hunk, holding up his loose fists as he pointed his index fingers toward the ceiling, “we could end up getting found out, captured by the government, and dissected like cats!”

Lance made a face. “Eugh.” The image of being dissected was not a nice one. “Hunk, come on, buddy. This could be—” His nose itched. “This could be—” His noise itched again. He grimaced, brought his hands up to his mouth, and gave a loud sneeze, eyes closing reflexively.

After a moment, Lance sniffled and lowered his hands from his face, making a face as he did. Eugh. Boogers. He grabbed a tissue to wipe them off, only to catch sight of the table.

It was frozen. So was his chair. And the floor. And part of the _ceiling._

Lance gripped the tissue in one hand, eyes wide. “Oh my god,” he breathed. He looked around, mouth falling open. Then, with a grin, he launched himself at Hunk and grabbed his shoulders. “Hunk! I still have my powers.”

Hunk turned green. “You just got snot on my shirt.”

Lance winced. “Sorry.” He took his hands from Hunk and wiped them on the tissue, tossing it onto the frozen table. Hunk made a disgusted noise and grabbed another tissue to grab Lance’s with, then tossed both into the garbage, while Lance studied the ice. He ran his fingers over it, marvelling at the way the cold seemed to dig into him without actually hurting.

It was like he was completely aware of all the ice in the room, so long as it touched him or touched another part of the ice he was touching. He could _feel_ the ice on the ceiling because of a thin trail of frost going up the wall. He could feel the way it hung above him, and he could… he could _hear_ it. Tiny little melodies in the ice, singing to him, telling him what it could do.

Lance lifted one hand and turned it so that the palm faced the ceiling. He looked up to the ice, not quite sure what he was doing, but wanting to do it anyway. Something in the ice told him that this was what he was supposed to do.

“Lance?” Hunk’s voice was faraway, almost through a distant tunnel. Lance was only barely aware of the room as he stood, his bare feet touching down on the cool ice. Instant awareness ripped through him. The water in the pipes. In the sink. The drip-drip of the hose nozzle outside. The whole house sung around him, a maze of pipes and water and _want._

With a sharp gasp, he stumbled, catching the back of the chair. As his hand hit the wood, everything vanished, like snapping a rubber band against his skin. He blinked, vision refocusing and world returning to him. Hunk put a hand on his shoulder, his concern naked on his face. The ice beneath Lance’s feet turned cold, the temperature spreading through him properly now.

He shivered and stepped off the ice, rubbing his arms. Great, this again.

“Dude, my moms cannot see this,” said Hunk. Lance nodded, though he wasn’t sure what he could do about it. Blow dryers, probably. Or Keith. But god knew where he was, and Lance didn’t really want to see him. Stupid guy with his stupid coffee stealing and his stupid steam power. Was it steam? Or heat? Lance didn’t know. He didn’t really get any of this. He just wanted the ice to go away.

And just like that, the ice all faded, disappearing into a handful of small puddles on the tiles and the wood.

“Dude,” said Hunk. He looked at Lance with wide eyes. “How did you do that?”

Lance stared. “I have no idea,” he said. He shivered again and rubbed at his arms. “I just wanted it to be gone and it was gone.” What had caused it? Just wanting it to be gone? Lance wasn’t sure. He was, however, quite sure that he was _freezing_ again and that it definitely was not fair. Not in the least.

“Hey,” said Hunk, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get you a sweater, then we’ll mop up.” He hesitated a moment, then continued with, “We should probably text the others. They’ll want to know about this.”

Lance nodded, tucked close to Hunk who was _gloriously_ warm, and let Hunk lead him up the stairs to warm up. Ugh. It was almost June. He should not be this cold in bare feet. Stupid superpowers.

Guess everything, even cool powers, had its drawbacks.

* * *

 

 _(2:06) Hunk: Hey so, Lance still has his powers. Kind of freaked me out._  
_(2:06) Katie: hrm. There’s got to be a way to figure this out._  
_(2:07) Hunk: I hope so. He’s really spooked and so am I._  
_(2:07) Hunk: How’re the others? Any word?_  
_(2:08) Katie: Allura’s out of the hospital, nothing on the other two yet._  
_(2:08) Hunk: Keep me posted. Allura said she’d text me deets about the asterium once she was out._  
_(2:08) Katie: Sure thing, dude._

Katie tossed her phone to the side on Matt’s bed and flopped onto her back, putting her hands on her face. She groaned before letting her arms fall to the side so she could stare up at the ceiling. Rover climbed up next to her and licked her face. Katie laughed and rolled onto her side to hug him, burying herself in the puppy’s fur.

“I am so glad you’re okay,” she whispered, stroking him. She wasn’t sure how she would have handled it if anything had happened to him. But he was just as happy and healthy as when she’d last seen him in the hospital, if a little clingier. Not that Katie could blame him. She’d freaked him right out with the museum stuff.

There was a gentle tap on the door and Katie rolled onto her back to look at the door. She didn’t bother to get up, just pulled Rover onto her stomach so she’d have an excuse to stay laying down.

“Come in,” said Katie, her voice barely there. The door opened slowly, Matt poking his head in before stepping in and closing the door behind him. Katie didn’t look at him, instead turning her gaze to the ceiling. She didn’t want to look at Matt and be reminded how she looked just like him, how their hair was similar – even if hers was bushier – and how their glasses were almost identical.

She didn’t want to deal with it all. Not now, and not ever.

“How’re you holding up?” asked Matt. His voice seemed to bounce around the room before it landed in her ears, but Katie was already adjusting to that new phenomenon. Ever since she’d gotten home, the air had felt different. Maybe it came from living closer to the mountain than most people in the city. Maybe it was because she had a lot more open air than at the hospital. Whatever it was, Katie was noticing how the world seemed to echo, like the wind had decided to catch the words and make them dance before deeming her worthy of them.

It was odd, to say the least.

“Fine,” said Katie. She hugged Rover a little tighter. He licked her cheek and she smiled, stroking his head. God, she was glad he was okay. She was so, so glad. Even if she hadn’t known him long, he’d already become her best friend.

She had to be sure not to tell Allura. Allura prided herself on being Katie’s best friend. Being replaced inside of two weeks, with a _dog,_ had to be a blow to the ego.

But hey, dogs were amazing. It wasn’t Katie’s fault that her family had decided she needed a pet. Especially not her fault that they decided she needed an adorable, and wonderful, little beagle. He deserved to be her best friend. He’d earned it.

Besides, dogs didn’t understand the concept of gender. That made him better than like, ninety percent of the world right there.

“Katie?” asked Matt. Katie almost cringed. The name was hers, but it brought with it a thousand worries now that she looked like him, as opposed to herself.

How long before someone thought the name didn’t match the face? The voice? The worry dug under her skin until it festered like a virus, destroying everything in its path.

“What?” asked Katie. She listened to the breeze coming in through the window, focusing on that instead of her own thoughts. It brushed her cheek and danced through her hair, whispering its inaudible words of comfort. The touch was almost maternal, in a way, protecting her from the world without ever saying a thing.

“Do you wanna go get something to eat?” asked Matt.

“No,” said Katie. She closed her eyes and let the breeze take her attention fully. She sighed, softly, and listened to the wind. Its song was fascinating, new but familiar all at once. Like an old friend, half forgotten, but now remembered.

“What about a video game?” asked Matt.

Katie rolled onto her side, facing away from Matt as she hugged Rover to her chest. “No.”

Matt sighed. There was a pause, then the bed dipped as he sat down behind Katie. His hand rested on her shoulder. Katie didn’t look at him. Didn’t look away from Rover, who curled up on the bed and went to sleep, his nose snuffling as he did. It was cute, and it let her focus on something other than the swirling of her thoughts.

The wind stroked her cheek, almost a friend.

“You wanna talk about it?” asked Matt.

Katie sighed. “No,” she grumbled. Rover awoke and wriggled out from under her before he climbed over her legs, disappearing. Katie figured he was going to get food or find someone to take him out. The shift in the bed as Matt let him out of the room confirmed that.

She couldn’t hold it against Rover. Everyone had needs. Hanging out with a sullen teenager wasn’t high on most people’s to-do lists, dog or human.

Matt was kind of the weird exception to the rule.

“Okay,” said Matt. He sat back down on the bed and rubbed her shoulder, not saying a word. Katie figured he didn’t know what to say. She knew she didn’t. She was finally home, but what even was home anymore? She wasn’t going to the Garrison, with her hair gone she didn’t think she could face school in the Fall – it wouldn’t be long enough then either. And, worst of all, the Building Better Futures program she was part of, the whole reason she’d _met_ Allura, had been cancelled in the wake of the accident.

Katie wasn’t sure what to do anymore. In one fell swoop, her entire life had been turned upside down and everything she had worked for, everything she’d ever wanted, was gone.

Even Allura was worried about being seen around her, and Katie and Allura had been friends for the entire time Katie had been part of the BBF program. Something about public image and not wanting to drag the Holts down with the Alteas, Katie remembered Allura saying.

She thought it was dumb.

She was pretty sure that Allura didn’t believe it, either. But that was just the way Allura was. Tell people things to keep them away if it meant keeping them safe. Stupid, really.

“All right,” said Matt, when Katie was quiet for a few more minutes. He stood, sighing so soft that Katie almost didn’t hear it, and then he was gone, shuffling to the door. “If you need me, you know where I’ll be.” The door opened, then closed, and Katie was alone.

He’d be in the basement, with all the computer stuff he and Katie worked on together. He always went there when he was stressed. Besides, Katie had commandeered Matt’s room since she’d gotten home. She liked his bed better.

And it was easier to forgot how different she looked, when pictures of herself weren’t staring out at her in her own room. Much, much easier.

Katie sighed again and grabbed her phone, swiping to Allura’s messages.

_(3:45) Katie: Can we meet up? I need you.  
(3:46) Allura: I’ll be right there.  <3_

* * *

 

Katie didn’t bother saying goodbye to her parents – who were out back with Rover – she just sent them a text, telling them that she was going out with Allura and took off. Allura didn’t seem to mind. She was leaning against the wheel when Katie pulled open the door to the car.

It was a sleek white thing with pink decals, perfectly befitting for a woman of Allura’s status and style. She had a pair of sunglasses perched on her face, the pink frames thick enough to be a ‘look’ instead of just odd, and Katie noticed that they hid the little burns on Allura’s cheeks.

That was probably by design.

“Well, Katie,” said Allura, flashing her a smile. She slid down her sunglasses with one hand, revealing pastel pink nails – probably a new manicure – and some silver and white rings on one hand. “Where would you like to go?”

Katie leaned back in the seat, closing her eyes against the afternoon sun. “Anywhere but here.”

The car pulled off the curb, Katie’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at it long enough to know it was her parents wondering where she was going. She tossed the phone into the backseat and closed her eyes again. Let Allura take her wherever she wanted to go. Katie wasn’t picky. She just needed air, space, time.

All the things her parents didn’t want her to have.

They thought she needed therapy – she might – they thought she needed medicine – definitely not, it messed with her hormones – they thought she needed constant watch and attention – ha, fat chance of that. They were smothering out of fear, out of worry. Katie just needed _time_. The whole world had changed overnight and it didn’t help that the wind had basically picked up a personality for her. One that reminded her more of herself than of anything else.

Maybe it didn’t have a personality. Maybe she was just projecting. Onto the wind. Yeah, that seemed totally healthy.

At least she wasn’t shooting ice out of her feet like Lance. That had to get annoying.

Katie wasn’t sure how long she and Allura drove, only that when she opened her eyes, they were pulling into a small dirt parking area atop one of the lower cliffs of the mountain. Katie rubbed her eyes, having kept them closed the entire way, and stumbled out of the car, following after Allura, who seemed graceful as ever.

As Allura walked to the edge of the cliff, Katie slowed, staring out at the city below them. They had to be miles from the edge of the city, to see it like this. Katie didn’t think she’d ever been out this far. Especially not on her bike.

It’d be great, when she turned sixteen and could actually _drive_ and see stuff like this. Actually be independent the way she wanted to be. But, unfortunately, she was still thirteen, a few months shy of her birthday, and that meant she was still at the whims of everyone around her.

“It’s beautiful out here,” said Allura, leaning against the railing at the edge of the cliff. Katie stepped up next to her and smiled at the expanse of late afternoon sky and city, watching the birds that flew across the blue, blue sky and swooped down into the cityscape.

“It really is,” said Katie. She closed her eyes and let the wind ruffle her hair and clothes, brushing across her cheeks until it soothed the frayed edges of her nerves. She took a deep breath of the wind, letting it circle inside her body until it soothed the rest of her and let her relax against the railing. “It really is.”

Allura hummed, something amused in the distance of her voice. “You seem content.”

Katie felt herself blush, the heat burning bright against her stupidly pale cheeks. “I like the wind.”

“I’ve noticed,” said Allura. “You seem to be a million miles away, as of late. I worry about you.”

Katie shrugged. “It’s the hospital. Everything that happened is just… it’s really weird, and I don’t know what to do about it. Lance and Keith have strange powers, I keep hearing things in the wind, and that’s not even counting what happened to you. There’s no easy answers and I should be able to figure it out but I can’t and—”

“Katie,” said Allura. Her words were gentle, but they cut Katie off quite effectively. “Breathe. Relax. We have all the time in the world to understand what happened to us. Perhaps the effects have… simply worn off. Nothing strange has happened to me since I left the hospital.”

Katie sighed. “Hunk texted me earlier saying that Lance still has his.” They’d had a longer conversation, after those first texts. She and Hunk had tossed around ideas on why and how these abilities manifested, plus why Hunk didn’t seem to have any. Or Shiro, for that matter. But Shiro and Keith hadn’t texted them since they’d gotten out of the hospital, so Katie didn’t know if Shiro had gotten abilities since then.

It seemed weird to her, that one of the people who had been in the middle of the blast had nothing happen to him, while two of the people outside of it, as well as Allura, who’d been a few feet from Shiro, all seemed to be manifesting abilities.

“Katie?” Katie blinked and looked at Allura. By the look on Allura’s face, and Katie noticed that Allura had left the sunglasses in the car, she’d been trying to get Katie’s attention for at least a minute.

Katie winced in apology. “Sorry,” she mumbled. She’d been doing that more and more since she’d gotten out of the hospital, slipping into her head for minutes or hours at a time. Something about the air. Something about her brain. She didn’t know what to make of it. “Just thinking.”

“You’ve always been quite talented at that,” said Allura. “I worry about you.”

Katie nodded. “So do my parents. And Matt.” There was a touch of bitterness in her voice she couldn’t get rid of. Didn’t really want to. “I may be a kid, but I’m not stupid, Allura. I can handle myself.”

“You don’t have to,” said Allura, looking sideways at Katie. She sighed and leaned over to Katie, who jerked back and stumbled into the railing. “Katie...” Katie shook her head and stepped away from Allura.

She needed space.

The wind brushed Katie’s hair and she tilted her head back into it, lifting her arms to let the breeze catch her. The weightlessness from when she first awoke in the hospital returned, sliding under her skin until Katie was sure it would never let go. She revelled in it, let herself dive as deep as she could into it.

In the weightlessness, Katie could be anyone she wanted, without fear of what the rest of the world would think. In the weightlessness, in the wind, she was _free._

“Katie!” The sharp fear in Allura’s voice caught Katie’s attention. Her eyes snapped open and she looked to Allura, only to find that Allura was below her, shorter than her.

“What?” Katie looked down and gasped. She was dangling, freely, almost ten feet off the ground. No ground beneath her feet, nothing but air to hold her up. She yelped, wobbled, and crashed back to the ground – feet hitting first and then falling backward, hands smacking the grass.

She winced as pain bloomed up her arms and legs, burning the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet.

“Katie!” Allura rushed to her side, crouching in front of her and resting one hand on Katie’s shoulder and the other on her knee. “Are you all right?”

Katie nodded, blinking a few times. She reached up, aware of the stinging in her hand, and pushed up her glasses where they’d slid down her nose. “Yeah, I think so.” She tilted her head back to look up at the sky, remembering how it felt to hang above the ground, _free._ “What did I _do_?”

“You said the wind spoke to you,” said Allura, slowly. Katie turned her gaze back to Allura, catching the pinch in her brow and the wrinkle of her nose. “Perhaps this is what the wind was telling you.”

“Yeah,” said Katie. “Maybe.” Katie let Allura pull her to her feet, careful of the burning on her hands. Her feet stung, but that wasn’t as bad as her hands. They’d been protected by her shoes. “I… I guess we know what I can do now.” She looked down at her hands, staring at the scrapes on her palms. She winced again and flexed her hands, wishing she had something to clean them with.

As if responding to her thoughts, Katie’s hands shivered and went hot for a second. She gasped and flexed her hands, trying to shake the heat. But then it faded, and when Katie looked back at them, the scrapes and cuts were gone, and only a bit of blood and dirt remained.

“What did you do?” asked Allura, taking one of her hands. “You healed yourself.” Well, at least Allura answered her own question, thought Katie. “How?”

“I don’t know!” said Katie. She took her hands back from Allura and shoved them in her pockets. Flight and healing? Wind? But why two? Why two when the others had one? What made her so different? “What’s happening to us?” Her voice was tight and shaky.

Allura frowned, worried and thoughtful all at once. “I have no idea, but I think it’s time we spoke to Hunk again, and perhaps the others. If we work together, I’m sure we can understand what has happened to us.”

Katie nodded. “Text them,” she said, tightly. Her own phone still sat in the backseat of the car, silent and accusing as she ignored her parents and brother. “Please.”

With a comforting smile, Allura pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped away at it. Together, the two waited for a response.

* * *

 

 _(7:53) Allura: It appears Katie has two abilities – healing and flight._  
_(7:53) Allura: I believe it’s time for us to convene. Not one of us has all the answers._  
_(7:55) Allura: Do you have any suggestions?_

Shiro stared at his phone, lips pressed into a thin line. He was laying on Keith’s bed, his phone resting in his hand on his chest, waiting for Keith to get out of the shower. Once he was out, they could talk.

Shiro wondered if Katie hadn’t borrowed an ability from himself or Hunk, who seemed to be the only two without abilities. It seemed unlikely, but then, so did everything else that had happened in the last two weeks.

The door to Keith’s bedroom opened and Shiro looked up. Keith stood in front of him, wearing sweatpants and nothing else, and, Shiro noticed, he was perfectly dry.

Shiro sat up. “How’d you manage that?” he asked, referring to the lack of wet hair.

Keith frowned and tossed his shirt into the laundry before running his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. I got out of the shower and I was sick of being wet.” He shook his head and pressed his lips together. “Everything got hot, then the water was gone.”

“Looks like everyone’s abilities are getting stronger,” murmured Shiro.

“Everyone?” asked Keith. He sat down on the end of the bed and turned, crossing his legs so he could face Shiro properly. “You get texts?”

“A few,” said Shiro. “Allura told me that Katie has _two_ powers, and Hunk texted me earlier to ask if we wanted to get together soon.” He looked at his phone, still cradled in his hand, and rolled his shoulders.

Keith hummed, his frown in his words. “Two? That’s weird. Does anyone else have two?”

Shiro shook his head. “Not to my knowledge,” he said. He looked back at Keith, who was definitely frowning. “I think it’s time we all got together and tried to figure this out as a team.”

Keith pressed his lips together, looking at the phone in Shiro’s hand. “Are you sure? We could draw a lot of attention together. Besides, you and I make a better pair, not a team.”

Shiro gave Keith a flat look. “Maybe,” he conceded, “but you’re the only one of us with a power, Keith. Lance, Allura, and Katie all have powers – they could help you more than I could with all of this.”

“I don’t need help,” muttered Keith. He uncrossed his legs and drew them up to his chest, hugging them loosely. “We do just fine on our own.”

Shiro gave an internal sigh and set down his phone. He reached out and rested a hand on Keith’s knee, drawing Keith’s attention back to him. “Hey, we’re not splitting up, but this? This is huge. We have no idea what we’re doing Keith.”

“I guess,” said Keith. He frowned, looking away from Shiro. “But I still think we can handle this on our own.”

Shiro wracked his mind for a way to convince Keith that they should get in contact with the others. There had to be something, anything, that would work. Then, just as quickly as he wanted the answer, it came to him. Keith was protective.

“What about them?” asked Shiro. “We can handle this, but do you think they can? We know what they’re going through; it’s our responsibility to help them.”

Keith faltered, mouth opening and closing a few times as he seemingly tried to find a response to Shiro’s words. After a moment, he scowled, dropped his knees, and sighed.

“Fine,” he said, sounding more reluctant than Shiro thought he should. “But how are we supposed to help? It’s not like we can just bring them all over here. Neighbours will see.”

Keith had a point. If they wanted to play around with their powers, they needed a safe, open space to do it in. Their house, despite its backyard and privacy fence, wasn’t a possibility. People would see. He figured the other houses were probably in the same situation. Maybe Allura would have a space, but Shiro wasn’t sure if it would be free from her fathers or their company.

He frowned. There had to be something…

Wait.

“What about the old farmhouse?” asked Shiro. He remembered it clearly now. When they were kids, they used to go out there for silly trips with their grandparents. Once their grandparents had passed, they’d inherited the farm – farmhouse, barn, and fields – but no one had ever done anything with it.

Keith looked at Shiro, head cocked to one side.

“It’s miles from anything else, no one will see us, and the whole thing is surrounded by woods,” said Shiro. He grabbed his phone and twirled it in his lap. “We could spend the summer out there if we needed to – it’s got power, water, we could set up internet. It’d be a way to get out from everyone else.” Shiro smiled at Keith, plans spinning behind his head. “Plus, we could get away from our parents for a bit – and I know you want to do that.”

Keith sighed, looking reluctant, but he nodded. “Yeah, that’s… that’ll work.” He looked to Shiro’s phone. “Text them. Let them know. If things work out, we can get together this weekend.”

“Sounds good,” said Shiro. He swiped his phone screensaver and pulled up the chat.

 _Group chat created._  
_(8:27) Shiro: Keith and I have a place we could practice and help each other out at – our old farm._  
_(8:27) Allura: Katie and I will be there. Just give us a time and a place._  
_(8:28) Hunk: Lance and I live in other cities, we’re only here until the Garrison lets out._  
_(8:28) Shiro: We can get together this weekend. Think you could stay here over the summer?_  
_(8:28) Lance: We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about us._  
_(8:29) Shiro: Saturday. I’ll send you the address and the time. Stay safe._  
_(8:29) Allura: You too!_

Shiro lowered his phone and looked at Keith, who watched him curiously.

“It’s all set up,” said Shiro. “All we’ve got to do now is talk to Mom and Dad.” Keith nodded and the two started throwing ideas back and forth, trying to figure out a way to stay out at the farm with their new friends – were they friends? – for as long as possible.

It was good to have a plan, thought Shiro, it made things easier, more predictable. Now if only their powers could be like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all comments are greatly appreciated!


	6. The Barn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Found this in my drafts. Hoping that feedback will spark my imagination for future updates. Cheers!

The drive to the barn had always been long, and Keith didn’t think it could get any longer until he was the one that had to do the driving. Sure, in theory, Shiro could drive. The car was an automatic after all. But that didn’t mean he was capable or comfortable with it. Not that Keith minded. He loved driving. He especially loved that he had enough of a license to drive, despite being sixteen. Thank you, driver’s tests and country roads.

So, as Keith made the last trek out to the barn after three other treks, he was tired, he was frustrated, but he was also pleased. He had the wind in his hair, the sun at his side, and his brother was chattering away about how excited he was to get the barn finalized so that they could all spend the summer together, working on anything and everything to do with their powers.

It was rare to see Shiro this excited, and Keith was glad that he got to be a part of it.

* * *

 

Lance hadn’t realized how long the drive was going to be when he and Hunk first set out that morning. He’d expected forty-five minutes, maybe an hour, not the almost three hours that it took for them to finally reach the barn. He spent half the drive drumming his fingers on the dashboard, staring out the window. He’d wanted to drive, but Hunk was a ‘better driver’ or something, according to their parents. Lame.

Totally true though, not that Lance would admit to it. Hunk was way more patient than he was on the road.

Lance had a habit of honking and swerving around people that were going too slow. It wasn’t his fault that people were all such slow and terrible drivers. Honestly, maybe if the _rest_ of the world was any good at driving, he wouldn’t have that problem.

…And that was precisely the reason he wasn’t allowed to drive, according to his parents. Unfair.

“We’re just about there,” said Hunk, glancing over at Lance. Lance straightened up from where he’d been slumped against the window, lifting his chin to look around at the land all around them. It was mostly fields with a couple trees here and there, but, up ahead, there was a wide stretch of forest on either side of the road that completely blocked out everything else. Lance narrowed his eyes, checked the GPS, and looked to Hunk.

Whatever the farm they were going to looked like, it was on the other side of that forest.

“Here we go,” whispered Lance. He looked at Hunk, who was visibly working his jaw. Lance leaned over and bumped his shoulder with his fist. “Hey, relax. We got the whole summer to figure this shit out, man. Three whole months.”

Hunk sighed. “I guess.”

“You still bummed you don’t have any superpowers?” asked Lance.

“Yeah…,” said Hunk, the word closer to a sigh than anything else. Lance patted his shoulder in sympathy and let his gaze go back to the forest, brow furrowed. He really, really wanted to know what was on the other side of that forest. But they seemed to only be about halfway through it, so they still had some time.

“You’ll get ‘em, buddy,” said Lance, nudging Hunk’s shoulder again and wearing a bright smile. “You’re too awesome not to get them.” He let his hand rest on Hunk’s shoulder, watching the way Hunk’s smile went too tight and the way his throat bobbed. “Hey. I’m serious,” said Lance in a soft voice. “You’re amazing, Hunk. And in the weird possibility that you don’t get powers? You can still be here. You can still help.” Lance grinned at him. “Someone’s gotta be our moral compass.”

Hunk let out a sharp bark of laughter and shook his head, tears in his eyes as he dissolved into regular laughter. “Thanks, Lance.”

“’Course,” said Lance, with a scoff. He settled back in his seat, folding his arms loosely over his chest. “Now, let’s find out what’s on the other side of this forest.”

Hunk nodded and the two kept on. Lance glanced over his shoulder to the bags in the back seat. Clothes, food, other junk, like his video games. Essentials. The trunk was full of pillows, blankets, and a rolled-up foam top for each of their beds, just in case the mattresses they’d been promised were shit. Or bad. Or something.

Boy scout motto: always be prepared. Lance could respect that, even if he’d been kicked out of Boy Scouts after about a month. Apparently playing pin the tail on the donkey with your fast-asleep scout leader was _not_ acceptable when you were eleven years old. Oh well.

Lance shifted back around to look out the windshield and saw the edge of the forest looming. He leaned forward in his seat, gaze sweeping back and forth across the last of the trees as the next field loomed. Lance narrowed his eyes. The field, on both sides, was bordered on three sides by forest, leaving only the side open to the road uncovered.

Handy.

“Dude,” whispered Lance as they came over the edge of the forest and passed into the section of field they were targeting. There were three buildings in the field – a big farmhouse, an older looking but well-kept barn, and a large metal silo that looked like it’d been out of use for a while.

Lance recognized the car in the gravel driveway from the snapchats Shiro had been sending them over the last few days. It was a cherry red convertible that was obviously way more expensive than anything Lance or Hunk could ever afford.

“Damn,” whispered Lance, as Hunk pulled in behind the car. Hunk cut the engine and they looked to one another, neither one quite sure of what to do. “So, uh, now what?” asked Lance, looking from Hunk to the front door of the farmhouse.

As if in answer to his question, the door opened and Keith came down the steps, scowling. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which Lance thought looked _stupid_ , and he was visibly grinding his teeth even from a distance.

He looked up and furrowed his brow at the car, his expression falling to something more confused, then relaxed.

“Oh, hey,” he said, as Lance and Hunk got out of the car. “Was wondering when you guys were gonna start showing up.”

Lance looked to Hunk. “We the first ones here?”

“Yeah, Allura called Shiro and said she and Katie would be around later,” said Keith. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. Then, his frown returned and he looked up to the roof of the house, sighing. “Don’t suppose you can climb a building?”

“Not without dying,” said Lance.

“Damn,” said Keith. “Bird hit the satellite and now the TV and wi-fi are out.” He pulled one hand from his back pocket and rubbed his neck, frowning. “You guys want to uh, I dunno, read a book? Shiro’s got about a thousand here. Lots of bookmarks, too.”

Hunk said, “I think unpacking’s probably first on the list, right, Lance?”

Lance blinked, looking from Keith, who was watching him curiously, to Hunk. “Oh, yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” he said. He looked back at Keith. “Unless you feel like breaking your neck… you wanna help?”

Keith shrugged. “Better than falling off the roof,” he said. He headed over to Lance and Hunk, taking a few of the blankets that Lance and Hunk pulled out of the trunk. Hunk took the rest, along with all his bags. That left Lance with a pair of bags and a free hand to get the door for everyone.

“C’mon, you’re sleeping up here,” said Keith, leading them to the stairs. Lance glanced around but didn’t see Shiro. He went to ask, as they climbed the stairs, but Keith answered him before he even got the words out. “He’s in the barn. I think he wants to turn it into some sort of superpower lab. I don’t know _how_ , but he’s pretty determined.”

Hunk perked from behind Lance, something Lance saw out of the corner of his eye. “Lab? I can help. I’m kind of a science guy.”

“So, I’ve heard,” said Keith. Lance narrowed his eyes at the tone, not sure if it was encouraging or mocking. Everything Keith said kind of sounded like that. Tones that couldn’t decide if they were serious or snarky, kind of angry, mocking or encouraging. It grated on Lance’s nerves until he wanted to punch Keith in his stupid perfect face.

Stupid perfect mullet boy and his stupid perfect face.

Bet he, unlike Lance, had no trouble getting girls.

Or guys. You know. No judgement. Not like Lance _could_ judge, considering he’d swung both ways since he’d hit puberty and had never been particularly ashamed or secretive about the fact.

“Here you go,” said Keith, setting down the bags on one of the two beds in the room he’d just walked in to. Lance looked around and set his bag down. It was bigger than the room he shared with Hunk at the school and the window was a big bay window with a wide window seat. Lance suspected that, if you curled up, or were Katie sized, you could probably sleep a third person there.

“Nice digs,” said Lance, setting down his bag. “Thanks.”

Hunk squeezed into the room with all his bags and dropped them onto the bed closer to the window. He grinned at Lance, who grinned back. “Just like the Garrison,” said Hunk, holding out his fist to Lance. Lance bumped it.

“Hell yeah!” he said. “Gonna be a summer of sleepovers and superpowers. My kind of deal.”

Keith rolled his eyes and leaned against the door, but he wore a little smile that softened the whole thing, so Lance didn’t hold it against him. Not this time, anyway.

“So, uh, how did you guys convince your parents to let you come?” asked Keith, his tone awkward. He shifted against the door, folding his arms across his chest. “Seeing as you said you don’t live in town.”

Lance looked to Hunk and then they both looked away from each other, both guilty. Lance bit the inside of his cheek and rubbed the back of his neck.

“We, kind of lied to them,” said Lance.

Keith snorted. “Obviously.” He raised an eyebrow. “So, what did you tell them?”

“We told them the Altean Corporation wanted to keep an eye on us and see if there were any lasting effects over the summer,” said Lance. He looked to Hunk, who looked a little bummed out. “So, we told our parents that they were putting us up for the summer and that we’d see them on reading week in the fall.”

Hunk sighed. “We told them that _just to be safe_ , we had to have no physical contact with anyone from the accident, so they couldn’t visit us.”

Keith’s expression went soft when he saw how Hunk dropped onto the bed and put his head in his hands. “Oh,” he said, quietly.

“We went back for like _three days_ ,” whispered Hunk, his voice choked with tears. “I…” He draped his arms over his knees and hung his head, hair hanging in his face. “And now I don’t get to see them all summer.” He sniffled.

Lance sat down next to him, bed dipping with their combined weight, and slung an arm around Hunk’s shoulders. “Hey, buddy, don’t worry about it.” He rubbed Hunk’s shoulder with one hand. “It’ll be okay. We’ve gotta learn how to control this stuff, you know? It’ll be hard but… we’ll get through it together.” Lance nudged his shoulder with his own. “We always do.”

Keith cleared his throat and looked away from them, the tips of his ears red.

“How’d you do it?” asked Lance, raising an eyebrow at him.

Keith shrugged. “Shiro said he wanted to try and live independently or something. I told them I wanted to keep an eye on him.” He bit his lower lip and shook his head, turning away from them with one hand on the doorframe. “It wasn’t hard. Our mom and his dad don’t really get along anyway.” With that, he pushed off the door and walked away, hands in his pockets.

Lance didn’t go after him. He had Hunk to deal with.

Besides, Keith seemed like he was used to being alone.

“You gonna be okay?” asked Lance to Hunk. Hunk sniffled and leaned against his shoulder.

“Yeah,” said Hunk, the word once more a sigh. “Can we just stay here for a bit?”

“Sure, buddy,” said Lance. He pulled Hunk closer and Hunk put his head on Lance’s shoulder, sniffling.

* * *

 

Katie eyed the forest they were passing through, her mind awash with possibility as she tugged at her hair. Rover was asleep in her lap and Allura was driving, her perfect nails shining in the afternoon light that came through the windshield of the car.

“So, you’re sure this is safe?” asked Katie.

Allura raised an eyebrow, glancing at her out of the corner of Katie’s eye. “You were so eager only a few hours ago, Katie.” When Katie didn’t smile, Allura’s expression went concerned. “Are you all right?”

“I mean, I guess,” said Katie, with a shrug. She settled back against her seat and stroked Rover with one hand, sighing quietly. “I just… I’ve never been away from home this long before, and we’re going to be in a house with a bunch of people I don’t _know_ and…” She trailed off.

There were too many variables. They all had unstable superpowers. There was no telling what any of them were capable of, and that wasn’t even getting into the possibility of some of the things she’d already seen. Allura could control plant life. Katie could fly and heal. She knew Keith was fire, Lance was ice – and maybe water? And, from what she’d heard, Hunk and Shiro had yet to manifest powers. With Hunk, it also made sense. He hadn’t been near the blast.

But the evidence suggested that Shiro should have powers. He probably just hadn’t figured out what they were yet. Or maybe the physical trauma his body had already been through prevented his body from showing them off.

She didn’t know.

And that was just the power stuff. That wasn’t getting into her own fears about living in close quarters with a bunch of people she didn’t know – and probably sharing a room with one of them. This was a big part of the reason she hadn’t wanted to go to the Garrison.

Fear.

“We’ll figure it out,” said Allura. One of her hands came up and self-consciously touched one of the pinkish-brown marks under her eyes. She pressed her lips together and lowered her hand back to the steering wheel. Katie didn’t know why she wasn’t trying to cover them up. She obviously hated them.

Katie knew what it was like. To hate part of your body. Especially a part that was so visible. Maybe Allura was trying to be brave for her. Maybe Allura was trying to prove something. To Katie. To herself. Katie didn’t know.

Katie didn’t know a lot of things anymore.

“Looks like we’re here,” said Allura in a far too perky tone. She flashed a smile to Katie, who managed a weak one back, as the two drove in next to an older looking car and a sleek, cherry red convertible. “Shall we?”

Katie gave a shaky nod and opened the door. Rover bounded out and went running for the house. Katie let him. She knew she could call him back.

“Quite the place,” murmured Allura as she got out of the car. Katie only nodded, adjusting her glasses to stare at everything all around them. There was a weight in her chest, from her lies to get away from her parents.

Spending the summer with Allura because she ‘needed space’. That much was true. The rest was a lie though. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

At least she got to keep Rover.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Katie. She grabbed her backpack and her duffel bag from the back seat and swallowed hard, heading up to the door. Before she got there, it opened, and she came face to face with Shiro. He smiled down at Katie and she felt herself relax.

At least there was one other person here she could trust. Even if she’d never been close to Shiro, he and her brother had been good friends for years – long before she’d figured out who she was. If nothing else, she knew he was pretty open-minded about everything.

“Hey, Pigeon,” said Shiro. He reached out and ruffled her hair. “You need a hand with that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at the duffel bag.

Katie shook her head, but she was smiling. “Nah, but I’ve got some computer stuff in the backseat in another bag if you wanna get that – be careful though.”

“Sure thing,” said Shiro. He hoped down the stairs and pulled out the bag. Katie turned and watched him. “Hey, Allura,” said Shiro as she slung the bag over his shoulder, smiling at her.

“Good afternoon, Shiro,” said Allura, smiling at him. Her fingers went to her eyes again and she frowned for only a second. Katie pressed her lips together. She wished Allura wouldn’t focus on them. She knew it was hard, from experience, but Allura was beautiful and a pretty awesome pseudo big sister.

She should feel beautiful too.

“So, uh, where are we staying?” asked Katie, breaking the semi-awkward silence. Shiro blinked, seemingly coming out of a daze, and he turned back to Katie, looking sheepish.

“Right, of course,” he said. He cleared his throat and looked to Allura. “Do you, uh, want help with your bags?” he asked.

Allura shook her head and grabbed one of hers. “I can get the rest later,” she said. She gestured for Shiro to lead. He did, climbing back up the stairs and setting into the house to lead Katie and Allura upstairs.

As they climbed the stairs, Katie looked around, taking everything in. It was a nice enough place, if a little old, and it had that just-cleaned smell of lemon and pine that Katie had gotten used to from scrambling to clean up the house with Matt before their parents got home on weekends.

They’d had a lot of fun, doing experiments. Now Katie was doing experiments with people she barely knew – and Allura – and she wasn’t sure how similar it would be.

She missed doing that with Matt. They hadn’t really done any kitchen or science experiments in months. Not since Matt’s university work had kicked up during exams. Even though he was done them now, they hadn’t really done much together since. He was getting ready for more intensive work over the summer, which he started this week, and Katie had been distracted with her program at the Altean Corporation.

Not that _that_ was going to be a problem anymore.

“Here’s your room, Katie,” said Shiro. Katie blinked and paused. She hadn’t even realized they’d stepped off the stairs.

She peered into the small room and saw that it only had one bed – well, and a dog bed, but that didn’t really count. She looked to Shiro, brow furrowed, and raised her eyebrows.

“I figured you’d want your own room,” said Shiro, with a shrug.

Katie smiled. “Thanks,” she said. She tossed her bag into the room and onto the bed. Shiro set down the other bag on the bed much more gently.

“Okay, Allura. You’re just next door,” said Shiro. He led her to the next door and opened it, revealing a slightly largely room with a slightly larger bed. Katie was tempted to make a joke about how she wanted the bigger bed, but she had a feeling Allura would actually swap rooms with her if she did.

She did not need that hanging over her too. Jeez.

“Thank you, Shiro,” said Allura, smiling at him. She set down her singular bag, turned to Katie, and clapped her hands together. “Well then, why don’t we head outside and get things sorted? I’d love to see what we’re working with.”

She strode past Shiro and Katie with a sense of purpose, heading down the stairs without another word.

Shiro chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Ever the scientist,” he said, shaking his head.

Katie adjusted her glasses and grinned up at him. “Yup, but that’s why we love her,” she said.

Shiro’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “We’ll see,” he said. He ruffled Katie’s hair. “Come on, Pigeon, let’s go.”

* * *

 

Outside, Hunk watched with baited breath and a furrowed brow as Lance and Keith argued behind the house. Their words had quickly gone from friendly banter to all out war, leading to Hunk putting his hands over his ears to try and block it out.

“You really think you’re so much smarter than me?” asked Keith. The two circled one another, jackets off, and teeth and arms bared. “I didn’t realize that _hair care_ was a measure for intelligence.”

“Hey, I’m not the one talking up being a dropout, _Keith_ ,” replied Lance, rolling his eyes.

“I dropped out for a good fucking reason,” snapped Keith.

Lance rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “So, there’s a good reason to be a failure?”

Keith growled and Hunk winced, half hiding his face behind his hands, unable to look away but unable to watch all at once. He knew this was going to end badly. You didn’t have to be a genius to know that these two were like, well, fire and ice.

Kind of fitting.

“Says the guy who keeps randomly freezing shit!” said Keith, baring his teeth and snarling at Lance with his fists balled at his sides. “You think _I’m_ bad, maybe you should learn how to control your stupid powers!”

“At least I _want_ my powers,” said Lance, stomping one foot. Hunk jumped as ice shot past him, forming a two-inch-high wall near his right foot. Lance and Keith stalked toward each other, nearly forehead to forehead as they shouted. “You don’t think I hear you and your brother?”

“ _Half_ -brother,” Keith bit out.

“What’s the difference?” asked Lance. Keith opened his mouth and Lance cut him off. “You know what? I don’t care. If you wanna act like some spoiled kid and push yourself away from a guy who obviously loves you, that’s your business.”

“You have no _idea_ what you’re talking about,” growled Keith in a very low voice.

Lance’s eyes narrowed and he stepped back from Keith. “I know _I’ve_ got awesome powers and that _you_ want to get rid of them.” Lance folded his arms over his chest and scowled at Keith. “You don’t like your brother, or your powers, or any of us. Do you like _anything_ , dude?” asked Lance.

Keith growled. “Shut _up!_ ” he shouted, throwing out one arm. Fire exploded out of his hand and Hunk heard Lance shout his name even as the fire loomed closer and closer.

_“Hunk!”_

Hunk threw up his hands in hopes of saving his face, his entire body frozen to the ground with fear. He braced himself for the burns and…

The fire never hit him.

Hunk heard the gasps and opened his eyes, only to come face to face with a wall made of stone. He blinked, reached out, and poked it. Nothing happened.

Slowly, Hunk stepped out from behind the wall and stared at it, eyes growing wider and wider as he did. It was about as wide and tall as he was, and about six inches thick. Based on the cracks in the ground, it had been hauled straight up, like a slab of the bedrock itself had moved to protect him.

“Dude,” whispered Lance.

“Guess we know what my power is,” murmured Hunk. He turned and looked at Keith and Lance, who stared at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws. “That’s pretty cool, right?” he said, rubbing the back of his neck and offering them a sheepish grin. “I guess I really am the most grounded one out of us, huh, Lance?”

Lance blinked, straightening, and broke into a wide smile. “Yeah, you are.” He let out a quiet chuckle and shook his head. “That’s _awesome._ ”

“I’m so sorry,” whispered Keith. Hunk looked at Keith and saw the absolute horror that ripped across his expression. The way his lip trembled and his eyes watered and his face flushed red around his cheeks while the rest went pale. His voice cracked. “I am _so_ sorry.”

“Keith, it’s okay. I’m fine,” said Hunk. He took a step toward Keith and Keith took a step back. “It’s okay, buddy. Really.”

“I…” Keith faltered, shook his head. Hunk saw the tears starting to fall. Saw Lance narrow his eyes, but say nothing. “I’ve gotta go.” He turned and bolted toward the barn, head down and feet kicking up dirt as he went.

Hunk and Lance stepped up to each other and shared a look.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” asked Hunk in a quiet voice.

“Dude, he could have hurt you,” said Lance. He reached out and put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “I think that’s what’s important here. What if you’d gotten burned? Or worse? Dude’s dangerous.”

Hunk frowned at Lance. “And upset,” said Hunk. He shrugged off Lance’s hand and headed toward the barn. “We’re all trying to figure things out, Lance. Let’s not act like Keith’s anymore dangerous than the rest of us.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw Lance frowning, his arms folded across his chest. “I’m gonna go check on Keith.”

“Yeah, whatever,” said Lance. He waved at Hunk and turned, heading back toward the house. “I’m gonna unpack.”

Hunk sighed and headed toward Keith. First, Keith. Then, Lance. Then, everything else. Maybe figure out how his powers activated.

He could handle that.

* * *

 

“Keith?” Hunk’s voice drifted into the barn. Keith looked up from where he was curled up on a hay bale in the back corner of the barn. He sniffled, rubbing at his eyes. His entire body was hot and he wanted to _scream_ , but he couldn’t. He knew what he’d done back there was stupid – getting upset and running off – but, for a moment, all he’d been able to see was Shiro’s car, upside down and burning, and the same feeling he’d gotten that day had hit him.

_His brother would be dead and it would be all his fault for not being able to save him._

That helplessness had clung to his throat and left him clawing at his own emotions until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Keith?” called Hunk again, sounding closer this time.

So, he’d ran.

That was all he was good for, in the end. Running. All he ever did was run.

_Fuck._

“Over here,” called Keith, not wanting Hunk to fall on a rake or something. There wasn’t a lot in this barn, beyond a shit ton of hay, that was why they were setting up their weird lab in here. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything dangerous in here.

Hunk appeared, smiling at him with that gentle smile he had. It put Keith at ease, even if he didn’t know the guy very well. He felt like a brother, slightly older – though Keith didn’t know which one of them actually was – but close enough to still be good friends. Or maybe Hunk was like a hug, or a teddy bear, or hot chocolate on a cold winter day.

Something comforting, something warm, something _happy._ That was what Hunk was. Like if you took sunshine and hugs and personified it.

Or maybe being panicky was making Keith weirdly poetic. He didn’t know. Maybe he was being ridiculous.

“Hey,” said Hunk. He climbed up onto the hay bale and sat down next to Keith. “How’re you doing?”

Keith shrugged and hugged his knees. “I’m being stupid.”

“From what I can tell? You seem pretty reasonable to me,” said Hunk. He leaned forward a bit to turn his head and look at Keith, brow furrowed. “Look, I don’t know your backstory man, or how your head works, but I’m not one to tell people they’re overreacting. For all I know, dropping the ketchup packets was the last in a long week of terrible things.” Hunk shrugged and smiled at Keith. “I’m not the type to judge.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t drop ketchup packets. I nearly _set you on fire_.” His voice cracked on the last word and he jumped when Hunk rested a hand on his shoulder.

“But you didn’t,” said Hunk.

“But—” protested Keith, only for Hunk to wave him off.

“No, you don’t get it. You _almost_ did. _Almost_ doesn’t count, Keith. Not in this case. So, take a deep breath,” Keith did so, “and let it out,” Keith exhaled, feeling his body relax, “and let me know when you wanna go back out to the others, okay? Until then, I’m gonna stick with you to make sure you don’t get lost in your head.”

Keith settled against the back of the hay bale behind him and nodded. Quietly, he said, “Thank you.”

Hunk bumped his shoulder with his own and smiled at him. Then, he started rambling about the mechanics that he wanted to set up in the barn. Keith let himself get lost in the words and in the gentle timbre of Hunk’s voice.

After a time, he found himself calming down, but he stayed a while longer, just to listen to Hunk.

* * *

 

The sun had set, dinner had been eaten, and Allura was lounged in the grass behind the farm house, her hands behind her, resting in the cool grass, as she stared up at the stars. Her long hair was down, fluttering in the breeze, and, at some point after dinner, she’d switched into a flowing, light pink dress. The effect left her cool, despite the warm night, and she found herself calm despite the oddity of her situation.

Allura thought part of it was probably because of her newfound connection to the earth. Even just touching it with her bare skin was enough to send her mind scattering through the fields. She could feel the trees they had passed to get to this field, the rows of corn that had been planted nearby, and, of course, all the grass and flowers all around them.

It was unbelievable, to be able to feel all of this. She wasn’t sure what to make of her abilities, or anything else, but this part – being able to feel the ground beneath her feet – this part she could handle, it was everything else – the control, the secrets, the uncertainty of why they had these powers to begin with – that she worried about.

“Allura?” Allura glanced up at the voice and saw Keith standing there, his hands in his pockets and a sheepish expression on his face. She gestured for him to sit. “I, uh, wanted to apologize,” he said, sitting down cross-legged next to her.

Allura raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” she said, a touch confused.

“For yelling at you at the hospital, and saying this was all your fault,” said Keith. He rested his hands on his crossed ankles and stared up at the stars, looking lost. “It’s not. You couldn’t have known what would happen. Sometimes… bad things just happen.”

Allura had a feeling there was a story behind that statement, but she didn’t push. She was content to take his apology. Her own thoughts were much louder than his accusations, anyway.

“Thank you, Keith,” she said, smiling at him. Keith smiled in return. “Would you like to watch the stars with me?”

“Sure,” said Keith. Allura watched him settle in next to her and the two leaned back and looked at the stars. Absently, Allura started pointing out constellations to Keith, and he replied with the few he knew, most of them in Japanese, as opposed to English.

It was a good first night at the barn, and she was glad to have a new friend to spend it with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


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